Hyperdimension Neptunia Love Plus Plus
by animerelatedlover
Summary: SEQUEL TO LOVE PLUS- A Passerby, made many sins. So much so, that 'the world' showed him a dream and took it back. He would then find a way to return and find the woman who he made a promise with. Eternity will start, but he will also see signs of 'him' breaking it apart; H-SCENES IMMINENT!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

January 14, 2015

It's night. The stars twinkle up above. I've been standing up above this certain building for quite some time now. A strategic facility in France, its sole purpose is to gather data on colliding protons in order to know how the universe began. Sometimes they also discover some other things as well, like the quark-gluon plasma, or that they have seen signs of a Higg's boson. They've also discovered two new heavy duty Xi baryon.

Really now, science has evolved so much that it might even one day rival god's creation. Questions about physics such as those are really just the starting point. Eventually, all those science fiction things that we watch such as 'Star Wreck' or 'Star Mars' would eventually come true. Heck, we'll maybe even communicate with aliens, if at all they exist.

Funny that I started it out about god's power, 'cause the government at the time, asked:

'_If we fund this, would it rival god's power?_'

The scientist promptly said no. And ever since, realizing this piece of 'tool' for the purpose of answering the fundamental open questions in physics; more preferably about the basic laws governing the interactions and forces among elementary objects, the deep structure of space and time, and the interrelation between quantum mechanics and general relativity, has been slow. And it's not until 2010 that we got such findings from such experiments.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. What exactly am I doing out here on top of ALICE's building?

Simply put, I'm waiting for something, one that would make my sweetest dream come true. And eventually meet her again.

* * *

"…" _when I came to, I was met with the familiar scene of the convenience store. I have a bottle on one hand and my phone is raised to my ear. I knew what the time and date without confirming._

_It was like I woke up from a happy dream. It was as if, I just closed my eyes and slept peacefully. And when I wake up, it would only look like a second had just passed. As if I was caught in an illusion. But was it really? Was it just an illusion that 'the world' showed me? To show me a piece of paradise then takes it away from me'_

_I felt the phone on my hand. It was different. It was a clamped shell typed one. Did I even have this phone from the beginning? No. My phone was just a simple bricked typed one. It's disposable as well, to prevent anyone pinging me down. So it really was…_

_And when I look at phone, a photo of a girl is shown before me. She has a tear stained smile, and yet it hasn't lost its picturesque. Aah… she was in my dream. She was the most energetic, cheerful to the point of idiocy, girl I have ever met. Maybe she's crying right now. And if she does…_

"…_I better not make her wait too long" I close the phone and head out of the shop…_

* * *

"…And after 5 years, I'm here"

5 years of endless research, 5 years of endless endurance, many times, I've hit a dead end. Giving up was of course not an option, but I have to face multiple walls just so I could get here. And it's not some ordinary wall, mind you, it's a wall filled with numbers that would make Einstein use every ounce of his brain cells to crack it.

"…But still, discovering interdimensional travels…would I set up an award for you?"

"No way, I've got better things to do than some conference with scientists…" the man stands beside me and watches the Alps shine under the stars, the distance city sparkle and a small wind pass by.

"So, have you ever found 'him'?" I asked.

"No… wherever he is, he can't hide from 'the world' forever"

"The world is round after all"

"…True…"

This man… well, let's just say that he is my guardian devil. He doesn't pop up like this, but when he does it means something serious. But today, he's taken a rather light tone. Almost as if this guy actually 'cares' for me. Heh, that would be funny.

"…So I guess, the deals done, right?"

"…Yeah"

* * *

"_Dammit!"_

_I slammed the table full of paper. My room is literally filled with endless papers on the walls. My apartment is like a cradle for scientists and mathematicians alike. If one could look at it, they could infer this as 20 years of research, where in fact it took only 2._

"_*Sigh*…A fucking black hole… Fucking sci-fi shit…" this is just almost impossible to do._

_I just proved that traveling through a spinning black hole would act as wormhole to another dimension. I wish, I didn't. Why? Because making one is so freakin' difficult. Even creating microscopic black holes is just hard to maintain. The radiation released from it would just be too far greater than what it sucks in._

"_Damn… and there's no other way as well…"_

"…_Giving up?"_

"_No, you asshole"_

"…"

_Translation: Hey, watch it_

"…" _I turn to him as I said it._

_Translation: I don't fucking care._

"_*Sigh*…Okay, okay. I'm sorry for that 'time'. Okay?"_

"_You are a masterpiece for bullshits"_

"_Look, I can't help you. But we can both help ourselves if we find 'him'"_

"_Don't have time for 'his' grandiose plan, I've got a woman who's waiting for me"_

"…"

_Translation: It's impossible to go back._

"…"

_Translation: We are both living manifestations of impossibilities._

"…" _no comeback? Good, I need the silence for my work._

_*RING!**RING!*_

_I picked up the phone and take the call._

"_YO~~! How's it going?"_

_*BEEP!*_

_I drop the call and take out the battery._

"_I see… that Chin is a douchebag as ever"_

"_He always is… He's spending time with his family right now"_

"_I know…"_

"…_*Sigh*… Look, get out of here. We can talk about 'him' seriously if I finish this ahead of schedule"_

"_No need. I'll look for 'him'"_

"_All right… you are 'the world' after all…"_

"_That I am… Let's make a deal"_

"_Hm?" I look back and see that he is quite serious._

"…_Find the possibility. And I'll do something about you staying 'there'"_

"_I thought you said you can't help me"_

"_Not by conventional means" touche…_

"_You sure? You'd be missing a 'tool' just to kill 'him'"_

"_Doesn't matter… You killed 'him' once with my formula. 'He' will die at the next…"_

"_Alright. Don't go egocentric now, or it might bite you back"_

"…"

_Translation: Deal_

* * *

"And now… we're here… the execution of my plan…"

"The after effects of this would just be too disastrous"

"Doesn't matter. This is just a small pay back for 'pulling' me out of there"

"You always scorn me… huh?"

"The world is cruel after all"

"That we can agree on…"

*BRRRRRR!* *BRRRRRRR!*

*BEEP!*

"Yeah?"

'_Holy piece of mother fucking with the tangible sense of Ukraine! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST MADE ME DO!?_'

"You created a black hole, using the LHC"

"_YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!_"

"No I'm not. Get the hell out of there before guys in suits come storming through the place. You don't want your wife be taken away now"

"_DAMN RIGHT! FUCK YOU, I'M GOING TO LEAVE FOR RUSSIA!_"

*BEEP!*

"*Sigh*…Still a douchebag as ever…" but I still, I owe Chin a lot.

"…So… it's time…"

"Yeah…" I fix my trench coat and pick up the luggage at my side. There's no holding back now.

"…Tell me…"

"Hm?"

"…Why did you pull me back?" I asked him.

"..."

Translation: Sometimes the world doesn't know what he's doing.

"…I see…" I walk to the edge of the building.

"...Hey…"

"Yeah?"

"…I'll take care of Julia's grave for you…"

"…I'd appreciate that… Thanks man"

"Yeah… good luck, Passerby" I jumped, to the abyss below.

As I approach, the darkness below, I see that the edges or rather, the light reflecting from it to my eyes are has bended, as if I'm looking at a fun house mirror. The distortion grows greater and greater and half of my field view is swallowed up by darkness.

'_So this the photon sphere_'

Allow me to explain. In this stage of falling into a black hole light; photons can orbit around the black hole. We all know that light gets bent whenever you apply gravity. And with a black hole's infinite gravitational pull, it bends to the point that it actually circulates around it. For example, I am looking at to left, and I see the back of my head. Pretty neat.

It didn't take long for me to get pass the point of no return; the point where scientists calls the Event Horizon. There really is no going back after this. My field of view is getting swallowed up by darkness, and when I turn back, I see that the sky where I once came from has turned into like a spherical orb. It kinda look like that the universe is a sphere, and I simply jumped away from it.

*SQZZZZZZZ!*

"Hope Titor is right about this?"

* * *

*_Knock!_* *_Knock!_*

"_Yes? How can I help you?"_

"_You're John Titor right?"_

"_Wait! How did you-Guh!?" I kick him inside and close the door behind me._

_*SLAM!*_

"_I've got a few questions for you…"_

* * *

*SQZZZZZZZZZ!*

"Shit! it's starting!"

The singularity is a point in a black hole where gravity is at its infinity. And the moment I crossed the event horizon my whole body started to stretch, literally. The parts of me that are nearer to the singularity and the parts of me that aren't will have a huge difference in gravitational pull. These are called Tidal forces.

And as I get nearer, I'm being stretched like a used bubble gum towards the singularity. Even my luggage is stretched like that. This is pain, burning pain. I'm being stretched to an almost impossible state and feels like all my tissues are ripped apart like tissue paper. This is called Spaghettification.

*SQZZZZZZZZZZZZ!*

*SQZZZZZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZZZZ!*

*SQZZZZZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZZZZ!*

*SQZZZZZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZZZZ!*

"…"

I'm back here… in this usual comfortable place of static, like I'm inside a television. My body is frozen in place. I feel that my body is back to normal. It's a good thing I don't want to be a living reincarnation of a flying spaghetti monster. Or that faceless guy in a suit. Then looking forward, I found the same black spark and it appears to be not moving.

'_Great… now I just have to wait…!_'

No, it seems that my 5 year work is going ahead of schedule. Like 'the world' is giving me push. So this is what he meant by 'help', got to admit, I appreciate it. The black entity moves, scribbling in the air the same enigmatic numbers, the numbers that I have only recently cracked. It scribbles in the air at such a speed until the after images are enough to know what it wrote.

99.898891293

And just as before… the scene cracked wide open in deafening decibels. The scene cracked wide and I fell off from it.

"I'm back!"

I've returned to Gamindustri


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

"Shit… I should have prepared a parachute…! Gh…!"

Here I am, moaning in pain from my fall. It's not the first time I've fallen from a great height and definitely won't be my last. Quickly feeling my body, it seems that I've suffered from a broken rib. The rest of me just numbs from the shock. Standing up would sent electricity inside me. So I lie here, resting for a bit.

Darting my eyes back and forth, the sun peeks through in between the forest's leaves. I don't know which land I am on sadly. I can't exactly infer much on a clear sky. Looking at my side, it seems that my luggage somehow made it through the singularity. Shit… remembering me being spaghettificated is just painful.

"…I'm really back alright…"

I smell the scent of the forest. The sun gave me a warm welcome and a small breeze brushes against me. These sensations are not lies or me being a delusional dick ward. I've really travelled between dimensions, not by certain extent of course.

"...Okay… my rib is 'healed'" I sit up from my position and opened up the luggage.

The inside isn't all that elegant. I've got torn clothes here and there. Even my underwear didn't survive. The only thing that survived was my rations, what's left of it anyway. I can probably eat this bread, but this yogurt have smeared all over some of my clothes that it kinda looks like I released my *ehem* inside.

"Hm? The pudding survived…" I did bring along a few puddings as well, and surprisingly it did survive. The plastic cup isn't all that distorted, but sadly the plastic spoon is just unusable. I can make a make-shift spoon if ever I need to eat one. Or not since I'm heading for civilization anyway.

I rummage through my garmets and found my 1911 pistol. Yup, you guessed it. It's junk now. The gun kinda look it was bended by that giant green guy. And the ammo had mysteriously gone, so yeah… And I found my tactical tomahawk. It's still usable, but it's slightly bended inward. And the holster is gone as well. The fuck? Does half of the things that I need just disappear?

"Hm? My wallet survived…" great. I remembered that I can convert my money into credits. Checking the contents, it seems that my black cards are still intact. I don't know if they still work but I hope it does. And I also find a few hundred bucks inside still intact, which is good if my cards don't work here at all.

"So… I got a tomahawk, no holster, my 1911, no bullets, torn clothes, pudding, bread, destroyed water bottles, and a few others that are beyond recognition…" not the most ideal usable objects for any occasion, but it'll make do.

"…I'll just keep everything inside and move on…" most sensible thing to do.

The forest is not that thick as I have noticed. But it's certainly wide. I know that the only forest that is this wide would probably be from Leanbox. Why Leanbox? Well, for one, it promotes the 'medieval' theme. And if you're trying to be true to that, that would mean preserving as much trees as you can. Although, Planeptune has a forest, it's rather thick but also quite small in comparison. Lastation would have thin small forests and Lowee would be out of the question.

"Okay… this is getting ridiculous"

I climb up what seems to be a tall tree. Upon reaching the top I observe my surroundings…!

"…Why is there a sea?"

Before I came here, all the places that I've mentioned are floating pieces of land right up in the sky. Meaning, there is no way that a sea would just float up pop up out of nowhere. Have I suddenly gone into another dimenstion? No way. That was the same number. 99.898891293. I've also double, tripled checked even, my calculations as per what Titor told me. And it's not wrong.

"…So does 5 years in my dimension mean something here?"

I can't deny that fact. 10 months here, didn't actually turned time in the slightest there. Meaning, I might have skipped years upon years here. An interesting theory but also a chilling thought. I know that the CPU's can't age but that doesn't mean that they can't die.

"…Better pray that it's not that" I knock on the trunk and look around some more.

"...*Sigh* that thing is way too far…" I grumble at myself.

A tad bit far away from me is city that looks so futuristic, that its color is silver with a shade of purple. I also see a giant tower in the middle that sticks out like a sore thumb. I can't see much more detail since I'm pretty far away, but I can safely assume that it's Planeptune. So my initial hypothesis is debunked, huh.

With one last look, I find the nearest river and mark its direction mentally. It's a few hundred meters away…!

"What the-!?"

A black portal suddenly appeared from out of nowhere. I can only see the edge sticking out, because of the trees. And it's not a black hole mind you, if it were light it would bend from the side like a smudge. And as quickly as it came it disappeared right after.

"What the hell?" my heart races. My instincts tell me to head over there. I quickly jump down, pull out my tomahawk, and run as I pick up my luggage.

* * *

"This is just a mess…"

The whole area looks like it's been sucked away by a giant vacuum. There is a single crater here, 2 meters in diameter. And all the trees and grass beyond it seems to be attracted to the center. So it really was a black portal that sucks everything. More like a degraded black hole. But that is not the only thing I noticed…

"She was here…" I don't know how, my instincts just says so. I feel a slight twitch with this place.

"…I'll go check out Planeptune first" a logical choice. I'll mark this place.

* * *

"Whoo! Finally made it!" I've got to admit, the way here is hard when you start at the forest. But once out, it's just a long satisfying field walk towards here.

I've reached the main city border of Planeptune. There are metal fences here and some guards guarding the gate and a few meters away is the city itself. I'm not going to lie, I'm so excited that I feel like I want to beat this shits up and run all the way. But I am but just a feeble passerby, mustn't overstep my bounds.

"Hold, passport please…" the Planeptune guard said as I approach.

"I have none sir…"

"Then you cannot enter…" well duh…

"I'm not actually here to enter the city… I'm here to tend the grass that you all kindly ignore" there is a field between the city and the border itself.

"No, unless you have passport or a pass, you cannot enter" well that sucks. What should I do?

"Alright, alright…"I quickly scan my surrounding.

There are 6 guards here, 2 of them are up on a watch tower while 4 are on the ground. Their giving a good distance away from the fence, one that I can infer that it's an electric one. They all of have good armaments, an M4A1, and an MP – 443 as their side arm. And at the watch tower are surveillance cameras. I'll assume they've already seen my face.

'_*SQZ!*… Basilicom to Border 1, Basilicom to Border 1…*SQZ!*'_

"Yeah, I can read you" it seems their coms have started speaking up.

'_Let that guy in! Do you have any idea who he is!?_'

"Um sir, we can't let him in just like that?"

'_YOU MORON! I ASKED YOU A QUESTION! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO HE IS!?_'

"SIR, NO SIR!" whoo… harsh captain is harsh. I think I see myself in that captain of his.

'_HE'S THE BOSS! THE SAME BOSS THAT GAVE ME THIS JOB!' _boss? Wait…

"Wha-!?"

"Hey, give me that"

"The hell?" this guys is obviously dumbfounded.

'_YOU HEARD THE MAN! GIVE YOUR FUCKIN' COMM SOLDIER!_'

"Tch…!" he 'happily' gave his com to me.

"Yo… surprised to hear you're in the military now…"

'_BOSS!_'

"Whoah, whoah… you do know that group has already been dissolved right?"

'_I KNOW BUT I STILL RESPECT YOU!_'

"Okay, quiet down. I don't want to go deaf right now"

'_Anyway boss where've you been!? You've been gone for quite sometime_'

"I know, it's a long story, I'll explain on the way. I've got lots things I need to settle with"

'_Ah, I know what you mean. Okay, I'll give you pass to the Basilicom. For now, I can't meet up with you. But do you see a giant tower that sticks out like a sore thumb?'_

"Yeah… I see it. Oh yeah, that's where the new Basilicom is"

'_Dang right. Just go there and walk in, there will be a guard there to escort you_'

"Whoo…" I can't believe that the time I was away, there has been significant improvement on this guy. Guess, dissolving the gang was a good idea after all.

'_Sounds good?_'

"Yeah. Thanks man…"

'_Anytime boss, anytime…*SQZ!*_'

I gave the walkie-talkie back to the guard and walk away. And the city of Planeptune comes closer to me as I march on.

"I'm almost there…"

* * *

_A/N: To that guest guy that submitted his OC on the last fic's review section. Create an account and PM me so I can talk to you about your OC._


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

The streets of Planeptune haven't changed at all. Well for the most part it already is a technical futuristic city, so the changes are few and far between. But in any case, it brings so much nostalgia just walking towards my goal. I'd like to take my time and enjoy but a certain woman's happiness is a priority.

I head inside one of its blue tube thingies. These acts as a fast travel mechanic that lets you stand on solid holographical object and transport you to wherever you want to go. It's kinda like a flat escalator but it knows which direction you want to go by studying your body movements.

A hexagon plate appears below me, lifted me up and guides me inside the tube, heading towards the Basilicom.

Planeptune is a very technological city. You would think that everything here requires so much power and half of their GDP would go to their electric bills. But in truth, everything is self-powered. The buildings here are all covered in solar panels, which the electricity is amplified greatly, which then powers the cooling and the main power supply.

There are also other technological things here, like this blue tube thingy which I explained earlier, flying cars, some robots, holograms, and all the science fiction stuff that anyone can throw at it. They have it all.

"…That's why this place is called the Land of Purple Progress…"

The many passersby that I pass by are a happy bunch of people. I think I heard them say that after a certain 'event' there has been peace since then. Some of them even said that the goddesses help make that peace come true. Well of course, their goddesses, they're the CPU's of this landmass, the leaders of this place, who wouldn't protect their people.

Looking ahead, the goal is right in front of me, a building towering in the middle of a lake. A triangle shaped building with its side's slightly and smoothly concaved. The top half of the triangle however looks more like a top half of a sword. There also building dome's sticking out from behind the sword-like-tip cover. My excitement rises. I wonder how Histy would react.

Once I exited the blue tube thingies, I swear, I can't name them right. I am met with a big open space where several other tubes are connected here. People come and go from the said building and the tubes. Trying to conceal my surprise I walk on…!

"Um, excuse me!"

"Hm?"

Someone handed me pamphlet. That someone would be a woman. She has long heather blue hair and blue-green eyes that are accompanied by thin framed glasses. She wears a single hair accessory on the left side of her head which has a triangular shape at the base that is black with white and blue in the center and has second part on top which is white accompanied with blue lining. Her attire consists of a primarily black business-woman-like suit with a skull right between where her torso ends and her legs start. On her arms she wear's what appears to be two white gauntlets with blue lining and black skulls on the end. Her leg wear contains black tights and white knee high boots with black shoe laces and black bottoms with blue lining and skulls on the side.

And she seems to be afraid of something. I'm not using 'eyes', right?

"P-p-p-please acce-accept this informative pamphlet!" informative she says. I take the pamphlet and read its contents…

THE WORLD IS A BETTER PLACE WITHOUT ANY CPU'S

"*Sigh*…" I've already read one of these things back in the day. No need to read the same bullshit. Based on experience I already know what's written in it just from the headline alone.

"Miss… uh, whatever is it that you are doing please stop…" I said as I give her back the pamphlet.

"I-it's says that everything would be fine even without the goddesses!" she's not listening…

"And, and. If we have lawful laws then we don't' need goddesses! And we-!"

"Hold your galloping horse woman" I put a hand in front of her.

"…If what you say is true. Then, who would maintain the laws after it was implemented?"

"Gh…!"

"And if another country would visit us, who would we throw in as our representative?"

"Gh!"

"Plus, if all power would be given to the people it would mean chaos and jack up shit. We're not in a perfect world sadly, we're in Planeptune"

"Agh…!" she fell to her knees. Guess I burned her a little too much.

"Hm?" she then stands up, with an almost crying expression and said:

"I'm sorry for taking your precious time!" she ran away. Gawd, now I feel like bully.

People don't want a perfect world. And it's impossible to make one. 'The world' is cruel after all. And no matter how perfect you make to be, there are always things that would destroy it. But the people don't want that. Rather, they want the pursuit of a perfect world. To establish things that is perfect world-esque.

"…And often we find that perfect world within ourselves. Not from others…" whether or not the world outside is bat shit crazy, as long as there is inner peace within a person, then wouldn't that make the world a better place? Even if that world is just his own.

"Better get going…"

I continue my walk towards the giant Basilicom building. When I reach the front glass doors, a guard comes over to me.

"Sir, I was tasked to escort you to the goddess" so he isn't part of the former gang, huh? And I thought he would send someone that I know. He led me inside.

I'm amazed by how big this place is. The insides have a shade of green, with a few spot lights here and there. The middle aisle, which is lighted from the bottom, leads to a second landing after a few steps of stairs. And on the sides are some employees doing their work. Some are tending to a client, others scribbling down their notebook and others typing something on their hologram computer.

-Yes, holographic computers. There's no giant monster rig found anywhere. It's just a holographic screen with a holographic keyboard.

"This way sir" this guy is tense for some reason.

I follow him. Some employees give me a weird looks as I pass. Wait… what happened to those priests guys? I thought they would be here the one minding the Basilicom. The times have truly changed.

Upon climbing the landing, there are few more employees in their desks just doing what other employees do. They gave me a look and quickly go back to work. We pass them and head towards the elevator right in front of us. He pushes the 'up' button and with a 'ting' the doors opened.

I go inside first and he follows along. He pushes a button where there's a sign that says 'NEPPY NEPPY NEP-NEP'S HOME!'. The elevator doors closed and we rise.

"…"

"…"

The guard and I were quiet. There wasn't any of noise other than muffled noise of the wheels grinding against the rails of the elevator structure. The numbers on top slowly lit one by one as we rise. How many floors does this building have anyway?

"…?" then from behind, I can feel photons hitting my back. When I turn, I can see the big city of Planeptune. Everything seems so surreal that maybe I'm actually dreaming again. But proudly, it's not a dream, this is reality; the one reality that I don't mind staying.

'Ting!' the elevator stopped and the doors opened. The guard gestured me out, and I promptly do so. Once out, the elevator doors shuts and leaving me there.

"He should have said something like 'I'm going now sir' or something" way too serious, and it's going to be bad for his complexity.

Looking ahead, there is a single 'futuristic' door in front of me. And judging by the wall that the door is attached to, which is convex in a slight manner, I think her home would be like the top of sky tower of Auckland. And the angle of the convex suggests that it's wider than what it.

I walk towards to door and ring the doorbell. I waited for a few until I hear a sound of an unfamiliar girl's voice.

"Coming!" the doors swung open and a girl who I don't know off appeared. She looks like her only the hair is long and there's one D-pad clip on her.

"Would there be a certain someone named Neptune?" I asked.

"Hmm… My sister is out. You have some business with her?" sister? Did I hear that right?

"Yes, I do. But in the meantime, would you mind calling a fairy here that sits on an open book?"

"How do you know about Histoire? Histoire someone is here to see you!" she calls out.

"…Yes, coming!" a 'mature' voice responds.

"I wonder who would that be-EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHH!" a fairy sitting on top of an open book appeared and screamed from the bottom of her heart.

"Yo"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

"J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J…!"

"Stop, you're like a broken record. Here I'll fix you" I reach out towards the fairy being.

"JARED!" she hugs my face, and she's crying a bit too.

"Oh well..."

Histy, or Histoire, here have surely changed. And what's changed is her height. She's became a tad taller. She's 12 and ½ inches now! Her hair remains in two blonde pigtails at medium length along with the purple and orange headdress but this time it accompanied by a hat with the letter N in the center. Her dress seems similar to last time, which is a graduate gown, but is open shouldered and has a teal tie. Her leg-wear consists of thigh high socks and white shoes with green circles with a black lining on the center.

"YOU'RE BACK! YOU'RE BACK! YOU'RE BACK!" she smudges her face against mine as her tears flood.

"I'm back alright" I pet her head. Yeah… I'm back.

"Goodness, I've never seen Histoire like this"

The other girl here has long light purple hair with a single D-pad hair clip and violet eyes and wears a white, button up sailor uniform with purple designs and a yellow ribbon being held together by the N-emblem, and yes, she doesn't have skirt only a blouse with its hem acting as one. She wears thigh high socks with pink and white stripes and medium sized boots that match her uniform in color scheme. She also has a white cellphone leg holder on her left thigh above her sock.

"And who might you be?" I ask her in between Histy's cries.

"I'm Neptune's… no… I am my own person, so… I am the CPU Candidate of Planeptune, Nepgear. I'm also Neptune's younger sister"

"I see, I see… Neptune's sister eh… Wait, wha!?" now I'm the one surprised. I thought my ears have lied to me earlier but it was true. She really did say sister!

"Okay, woman explain to me everything what has happened while I was away"

"YOU'RE BACK! YOU'RE BACK! YOU'RE BACK!"

"Crap, she's not listening to me…" would everyone act like this after they saw me?

"Um… I don't know who you are but please come in first" this Nepgear girl is polite, in contrast to her sister.

"All right" I pick up my luggage from the ground and followed Nepgear inside.

The inside hallway inside is slightly curved. The walls have lavish pink wallpaper on it and the cornices have a purpled one. The tiles are a pattern of shaded orange and orange. The curved hall is lit by the lights through the light orange ceiling. On the side of the curved hall is a spiral walkaway towards what seems to be second floor. We pass that.

We enter to an opening and into a room with a great view. We're at the far left of the room, mind you. The one biggest thing here is that this living is a half circle sized room. The wall is completely filled with windows that see the city of Planeptune. A few paces away from me is a dining table capable for 6 people. In middle of this totally rad room is a purple carpet with gold linings. Lying on top of it is a giant flat TV on top of some drawers. In the opposite of it is a sofa and in between the two is a game console that looks like a black D-pad with an N in the middle with the controllers lying there and here. In between the console and the sofa is a wooden living table. At the far side of this spacious room is a study table.

Nepgear guides me to the sofa and allowed me to sit. She disappeared on the right side of the room which apparently has another opening, and reappeared once again with a glass on a tray. She offered it on the table in the most polite manner ever. I think I know a restaurant that needs such politeness. I take it after saying my thanks and take a drink from it. It's green tea.

"Anyway Jared, H-How did you get back? I can't believe you're here after 8 years!" Histy says. 8 years, huh? Oh well, time dilation I guess.

"Long story"

"Still, I can't believe how much you haven't aged a day!" because I'm that _special_.

"And I can't believe that you've actually grown an inch and looks more mature than last time"

"There is a reason for that"

"…And you forgot to put your cute emoticons. How I miss the old you"

"Please, I still wear that gift you gave me"

"The kimono? I think the size was supposed to be an inch shorter"

"Neptune keeps telling me to wear it sometimes"

"Sheesh, that woman will never change…"

"Um…" we look at the only girl who is out of the loop.

"…Histoire, how does he know Sis?" Nepgear asked with an 'this-is-getting awkward' tone.

"Ah, I should introduce you to him. He's-!"

"A passerby" I cut her off.

"Ah, so you're one of those side characters that Sis talks about" what the hell have you been saying about me woman?

"Hehe… don't mind that remark, he's calls himself that"

"Hey, that title is my ego. Don't go throw it off"

"Anyway… listen well, Nepgear this man is…"

"…That man is…" what's with the unnecessary tension?

"…He's…"

"…He's…"

"…You're sister's boyfriend!"

"…My sister's… SAY WHAAAAAAAAAAAT!?"

"Whoo… didn't think that she would react like this" her eyes are wider than a sauce pan.

"WHO?! WHEN?! HOW?! WHERE?!" she panics.

"You forgot 'what'" I say as I take another sip from the glass.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?! SIS'S BOYFRIEND?!"

"Nepgear calm down. You do remember Neptune's stories, right?"

"…_haa… haa… _You… you mean… He's _the_ Jared!"

"Yes"

"_The _Jared that took Arfoire down in one swing! _The _Jared that made all the CPU's at his mercy! _The _Jared that she was waiting for!"

"Hold up, back up two sentences woman. First of all, Arfoire is tough a woman. Second, I did not make the rest of girl's to fall at my mercy. And also calm down"

"…_haa… haa… _Sorry, I can't take it all in…" Nepgear huffs in air.

"All right, just sit for a while"

"Thank you very much" now our roles are reversed. Nepgear is on the couch while I, the passerby, stand. Talk about being hospitable.

"What a sister…"

"She's usually more level headed than this"

"Siblings will always be siblings, I guess"

"True. Anyway, I know you have a lot of questions right, Jared"

"I do… but I am having a theory here…"

"As expected of Jared. So tell me your thoughts"

First of all, the sea. Before, we were a floating piece of land up in the sky. There are two possibilities here. One would be that the sea level rised. And the other is that we fell from the sky. Since it would take 8 years, it's not that far fetch to see that the sea level would rise quickly. But latter makes more sense. Since we are falling, the people would have to pray. And knowing that the girl here is a CPU candidate, as well as Neptune's sister, I think this girl is also made out of faith from the people's prayer as we fall towards the sea.

"…got that, right?"

*CLAP!* *CLAP!*

"As expected, you never miss a beat" Histy praised.

"However, I'll a bit more detail into your explanation… ehem…"

After Jared left, Gamindustri is in peace for quite some time, until tragedy have struck. The world fell, literally. The reason for such is that Celestia lost its power for no apparent reason. The goddesses tried their hardest and tried to push back the landmasses fall even just a little. But even then it was still not enough. Neptune told the whole Gamindustri to pray. And pray they did. At the time, the prayers we're so large, that the Share's that every country has have skyrocketed. And because of the Sisters were born.

Made out Shares, or faith if you will, the Sisters helped the CPU's cushion the fall of the landmass as it lands into the sea. It was then we decided to make them our own candidates. If ever something happened.

"…You can find more details about what happened while you were away in my book!" you just have to cut it off, huh?

"So based on your story. That means that each landmass is on the sea and they have sisters with them?" I want to see what Vert's sister is.

"Except one. Vert doesn't have a sister"

"How sad for her"

"…You _can _always be her little brother"

"Surely you jest"

"I jest. Anyway, since you currently know the current situation. I'm sure a proper greeting is in order"

"Hm?" Histy looks at me with a beaming expression. Like a mother greeting her prodigal son.

"…Welcome back, Jared!"


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

"Christ, reading yottabytes, which is 1 trillion terabytes, of information under a single letter gives me a small headache"

"Even with that, you're still able to read it"

"That's because I'm special"

After reading 8 years of every single thing that happened, including the average temperature, the humidity, the amount of nitrogen in the air, and a lot of useless things, I've got the gist of everything that has happened so far.

So just like what Histy said. The floating landmasses fell off from grace, as if it were some cheap toy strapped on the ceiling and some kid cut the string. The CPU's, mainly, Neptune, Noire, Blanc and Vert, tried to cushion the fall of their respective landmass. But their powers were not enough. So, Neptune said to all people in Gamindustri to pray. And as they pray, their faith quickly powered up the goddesses and once again attempted to cushion the fall.

The people pray so hard at the time, that you might think that they're asking god to take them away to heaven. And through those hard prayers, came forth 4 new goddesses. They helped the goddesses cushion the fall of the landmass as it lands into the sea. And that explains why there's the sea.

Saving the lands however does not mean there are no casualties. Due to the how sudden the fall, most of the cities has been a wreck. The most damaged of them all would be Leanbox because of their 'medieval' theme. Because of that, Planeptune offered help and now Leanbox is the second futuristic city.

But, the new goddesses are a new issue. Who are they going to govern? There are only 4 main cities on Gamindustri. And after a bit of research they discovered that these 4 were born on different landmass not in Celestia; 1 from Planeptune, 1 from Lastation and 2 from Lowee. Knowing this, they said they'll be the little sisters of the CPU of where they are born from. And since their can only be one CPU per land, they're a rank lower than them; a CPU candidate.

The 4 aforementioned are Nepgear, Uni from Lastion, and Rom and Ram from Lowee. Sadly, there was no sister that was born in Leanbox.

After a year, Gamindustri, or rather, Planeptune, Lowee, and Lastation combined into a single continent. Leanbox, however, is a few nautical miles away from the super continent.

There is also what they call Oracles. No, not those oracles that tell clichéd prophecies, but they're more like secretaries; since goddesses needs to almost triple their work load because of the ordeals. Histy, being detached from Celestia, is now the oracle of Planeptune, which she is seriously worried about. There are three others as well, Jinguji Kei of Lastation, Mina Nishizawa of Lowee, and Chika Hakozaki of Leanbox.

-Well, Vert isn't all the lonely after all. She has an Oracle with her. And from this 'all knowing' book, Chika has an obession with Vert.

Then, there was this event with ASIC, Arfoire Syndicate of International Crime, not Application Specifc Integrated-Circuit chips. They did some nut job of reviving Arfoire and plunging the world downright under. They were defeated, of course, but not without someone *ehem*… Crossing the river…*choke!*

-That story would be for another time.

"Well, that's that with the explanation of things now for the good part. Where's Neptune?"

"Um… Sis is out completing quests" Nepgear answered beside me as I put Histy back on her book.

"She's out on her own? Is she finally seeing the light" Histy asked with a slight excitement.

"Um… no. I guess I kinda pushed her a little…"

"And how little would that push is?" I asked, noticing an awkward tone from her.

"Well…"

* * *

Neptune: _"Now then, Histy is still in a mood. Wanna trudge off to work in a really dissatisfied manner?"_

Nepgear: _"Dissatisfied… You really do have the dissatisfied look down, Sis"_

Neptune: _"You noticed!? I mean, yesterday I worked for the first time in forevers, so I'm all achey-breaky"_

Nepgear: _"As a person, not even as a CPU candidate, I think you're acting pretty whiny…"_

* * *

"…At the time, I thought I spoiled her too much so…"

* * *

Neptune: _"Oh, I got an awesome compromise! How about you work and come report to me later, Nep Jr.!? As part of my rehabilitation, it's important for me to just pop into the arcade, and…!"_

Nepgear: _"NO!"_

Neptune: _"Nepu! Wh-What's with you!? Are you, like, actually getting upset with me!?"_

Nepgear: _"If things go on like this, you'll turn into a bad, lazy sister! I must be more strict with you!"_

Neptune: _"Huh? Whoa, what!? Time out! If you get tough on me like Histy, what's gonna happen to me!?"_

Nepgear: _"LA LA LA LA LA! I can't hear you! Go work all by yourself today! I'm staying here!"_

Neptune: _"N-No, I'm just sayin'…"_

Nepgear: _"LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA!"_

Neptune: _"Ow, my ears… That's that, then. Nepgear just doesn't' quit when she gets an idea in her brain. Okay, Nep Jr. I understand. I'll go work by myself"_

Nepgear: _"LA LA LA LA LA!"_

Neptune: _"Yeah, you can't hear your darling big sister's voice, gotcha. Bye-bye!"_

Nepgear: _"LADEEDAAAAAAAAAAA!"_

* * *

"…Is what happened…"

My face meets my palm.

"And you said she was a level headed person?"

"Most of the time…" Histy seems to have facepalmed as well.

"Ah, it was only a couple hours ago since she left though!"

"So we missed each other, huh? I guess I can just wait for her" I relaxed my body in the sofa. Does sofa's in Gamindustri sucks energy? Coz this one does.

"I need to get back to work now. Unfortunately, the amount of put offed work has made me too busy, sorry Jared"

"It's fine… make the world a better place if you will. I'm going to relax here…"

"Alright. If you need me, I'm upstairs… And welcome back Jared" Histy gave me a motherly smile and heads towards her work on the floor above. Her outlooked may have matured, but she's still the same Histy.

"Whew… finally rest and relaxation, been a while since my last sleep…" I mumble to myself. Well it is true. I really haven't slept all that frequent after I got back there. Damn, computing how to make quark gluons to be a lot smaller just so they collapse into a black hole is hard work. Plus I have to make several of those at the same time just so they could get bigger, by combining into each other.

"…Um…"

"Hm?"

"Ah, it's nothing…!" she looks away.

"…Um… how long were you and Sis gone out?"

"10 months" I promptly answer. Damn, this sofa is good.

"…I see…"

"Hmm… Tell me something…"

"Yes?" she turns to me with a quizzical look.

"Have you ever seen a whale with a polka dot tail?"

"Mphf…!" she laughed. That's nice, it reminds me of Neptune when she cracks.

"…Ahaha… where did that come from"

"Just breaking the ice. You're too nervous"

"Ahaha… A whale with a polka dot tail… aha!"

"Aha… s-so Sis was right about you"

"About what?"

"You're kinda cool!" she beamed.

"That I am. So what has she been talking about me, hope it's not some-!"

"She said that you're a bully"

"…nevermind" I facepalm once more.

"Ah, but she meant it in a good way" how good is it to be called a bully.

"She said that… there was this passerby that she always loves, he's cool, kinda handsome, very masculine, smart, strong, but also very loyal" what's with the 'kinda handsome' part?

"He would get headaches every now and then but a hug is all it needs to banish it away. He would think up crazy fun plans. He cooks 10 star meals. But most especially he loves her very much"

"Geez, that woman sure can boast…"

"…A-And…" she blushed, heavily.

"She also said you're good in bed too…" and fidgets once more. *Sigh*… That woman doesn't have a single reserve in her huh…?

"And also… ah! I remembered something! Mister Jared, please come with me!"

"Whoa! Don't yank me off the couch!" I can see a tad bit of Neptune's personality in her.

She drags me all the way back to the hall and drags me up to the second floor through the spiral walkway that is hugging the wall. When we reached the second floor, there are 2 rooms on the left and 2 rooms on the right. Due to how spacious this place is, the 2 pairs are kinda far away from each other. And there's another automatic door and the end of the hall.

Nepgear pulls me towards the first door on the left, and prompted me inside.

Inside the room is pretty purplish. Which fits the Nep sisters color quite well. In the middle is a two comfy chairs and a table between it is settled neatly on top of a carpet. On the right are two study stables which have a variety of things such as mirrors, books, make-ups. On the far corner right side is a pink dresser with a body mirror beside it and stuff green doll on top. At the far side, which is our opposite, is a double decked bed with some toys lying around it. At the right is more stuff toys by the large window that covers the right wall and is overlooking the city.

"Um… I think it was around here…" Nepgear starts rummaging around one of the study tables while I stand patiently by the door. The smell of this room smells like Neptune.

"Ah...! Jared, come over here…" since I have permission, I walk over to her.

"Here…My Sis always looks at it…" Nepgear moves out of the way for me.

When I look at what she meant, I knew exactly what it was. It was something that I bought for her after I disbanded the gang. I'm not a fan for expensive things equals to the amount of feelings, but I figured that it was a perfect for her so I went and bought it anyway.

I open the small box. And inside is a single plain lilac ring. The ring box supposedly able to accommodate two rings, but in the pocket of where the other ring is supposed to be, is a single folded up piece of paper.

"Sis says that I don't touch it unless you come along…"

"I see…"

"She said that if you do, then I'd give it to you…"

"…" I take the small piece of paper and open it up to reveal its contents.

'_Yes_'

"Heh… that woman knows how to make me fall for her all over again…" even though it's just a letter, a can clearly picture out her voice saying it.

I take the ring, emptying the contents of the ring box, and put on my ring finger. It does fit quite snugly in it. Not too tight and not too loose.

"Thanks a lot… Nepgear…"

"Mhm!" she gives a smile. A clever, polite and responsible younger sister, she's a good contrast alright.

"_Gear! Nep! I've brought some food!_" hm? Is that…?

"Ah, IF must be back" Nepgear says.

"Oh it's Iffy's voice" I want to see her reaction right now.

I followed Nepgear down to the floor where we came and head towards the spacious living room, where the supposed voice of Iffy rang out.

"Ah, IF…"

"Oh, there you -AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!"


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

"J-J-J-J-J... *hic!*"

Iffy covers her mouth and small tears started to flow from her eyes. For a while she just stared at me. And when everything had sunk into her she lets her feeling flow by running up to me and giving me hug.

"JARED! Y-YOU'RE BACK…!"

"I'm back alright…" I return the hug, grooming her long brown hair as she cries lightly in my chest. It brings me nostalgia just doing this.

"*hic!* *sob!* Y-you're back! You're really back!"

*SWASCHK!*

"*hiiic!*…"

On the far right of me, is a woman wearing a tan wool sweater with a creamy hair. She has hands covering her mouth and her eyes as wide as saucers. She dropped a tray full of tea. Compa stands there unable to move.

"J-Jared…?" she asked uncertainly.

"Yeah, it's me… C'mere Compa…" I extend an arm towards her.

"…!" she runs towards us and joined in on the hugging scene. It didn't take long before she too cried.

"I'm back you two…" I hug them even tighter.

"W-welcome back!"

* * *

"Haa… I can't believe I cried in again…" Iffy complained, while wiping her eyes with a handkerchief.

"Crying Iffy is cute after all…" I admit.

"Stop it. I'll have to promise myself not to cry anymore…"

"That's impossible, right Compa?"

"That's right! All human beings should cry!" Compa pumps her fist. And 'should' is going a little overboard.

"No way, crying makes me feel like crap. I don't want to cry ever again"

"Even tears of joy?" I ask her.

"Even tears of joy…"

"So not cute" I pout.

"HEY!"

We're sitting on the dining table. Iffy, Compa are opposite of me, and both of them have a refreshed look in their faces. Nepgear, is at the kitchen, which is located in the far right of this spacious room through the open way, making some tea for us.

"You know, I've been gone for quite a while and you two looked like you haven't aged a day" I commented. These two haven't changed in appearance and in clothes. They look as pretty as always.

"How about you? You actually haven't aged at all. I thought for sure you'd come back with wrinkles or something" Iffy said.

"Hey, 21 years old is not old"

"You said that 8 years ago, so that means you're 29 now" Compa said.

"No way, I'm 21 forever and ever" I defend my youth.

"What are you, a kid? Accept the fact that you're getting old" these two are ganging up on me huh?

"Okay, okay. I'm old. I'm an old man with a cane" I said, accepting defeat. In retrospect, I really am _that_ old, but I forgot my real age since I stopped counting.

"So in any case, how are you two? I heard that Compa is nurse now"

"Mhm! I finally passed the exam after several tries!"

"Several tries? Like how many?"

"About… several times!"

"I see" Compa will always be Compa I guess.

"And how about Iffy, I heard that the Guild have changed"

"How do you know that?"

"Histy's book"

"Ah…"

Allow me to explain. Sometime after 'the fall', the Guild state in Lowee, in which I proposed, well they also took some damage. The extent of the damage was repairable but slow. And for every repair, they need money. So what the Guild did first was to handle the questing system for the Basilicom.

The premise is to handle every quest in Lowee first. Therefore they could get a small kick back each time a quest has been approved to be completed. But as time grew, they slowly became a corporation. And when the supercontinent was made, they spread their corporation to all lands. And even to an extent of having a private military corporation.

And because of that new leaf, all of the conflict about Extremist and Moderatist bullshit of the Guild, has been dissipated.

"Well, yeah, technically, I'm still a Guild resident at the time so I joined the movement"

"Don't tell me you joined because you want to support Vert"

"L-L-Lady Green Heart has nothing to do with me joining the new Guild!" Lady Green Heart, eh?

"…And my work place is in Planeptune so it's impossible"

"But you can still worship her right?"

"Gh!"

"Ehehe…" hm? Compa seems to be laughing.

"…It's fun to see Iffy get so flustered…"

"Compa, stop or I'm going to get embarrassed here…" Iffy blushed.

"But you look so cute like that…" Compa giggled.

"C-Cute, well…" Iffy blushed too hard and looks away. Please gawd, I hope I'm not reading this right.

"I brought tea, IF, Compa" Nepgear came and distributed the drinks to us. I already have tea like 40 minutes ago.

"Sorry for breaking those glass earlier Ge-Ge"

"It's fine. Sis breaks some so we always have reserves" don't you think teaching the woman not to break something is a good idea rather than buying stuff so she can break some more?

"So anyway, have you seen Nep yet? I'm sure she's rolling around in pure happiness by now" Iffy said.

"Sis is out doing her work"

"Work? She did that yesterday and she's doing it again, and alone to top it off? Is it going to literally rain cats and dogs now?"

"…Ah, no. I kinda pushed her into doing it alone" Nepgear says in a worried tone.

"Don't explain now. I think I have a gist of what happened" Iffy stops her.

"Ge-Ge, don't worry about Nep-Nep. She can be really reliable… sometimes…" Compa, that last remark should be kept within oneself.

"…Um, okay. I'll have a little more faith" what a caring sister…

"So you two always visit?"

"Mhm! We always play with Nep-Nep and Ge-Ge!" Compa answered.

"…And we do it more often than not actually" Iffy added.

"Oh yeah, before I forgot…" Iffy picks something from the floor and put it on top of the table. It's a small white box that looks like it's a take out from a restaurant.

"I brought some food"

"Thanks. I'll put it on a container so we can eat it for dinner" Nepgear takes it and runs to the kitchen once more.

"Speaking of food, Compa has become quite a chef, huh?" before I 'left', she was improving. But when I read about her progress, she's literally the star in the kitchen.

"Mhm! I always cook for Nep-Nep's silly compliments!"

"I can imagine…"

"Well her cooking skills has improved since last time. I'm kinda shocked that she's much more better than me" Iffy said. A face of a proud teacher appears on her face.

"Oh, I would want to see a demo…"

"Not against you, you'll hurt her"

"Please, we're friends, I'll just nitpick here and there"

"That's what I meant by hurt" that's called constructive criticism, Iffy.

"But still, no one can beat you when it comes to cooking" Compa said.

"Yeah, because of how you cook we kinda unconsciously compare everything we eat to yours"

"Isn't that a good thing? Maybe because of how I cook that Compa strives to reach it. Even if you have inferiority complex, hypothetically speaking of course, you'll unconsciously improve yourself despite it"

"Maybe your right. Hey, we got to hear one of your speeches again" Iffy noticed.

"Do you miss it?"

"Mhm! Because Jared looks so cool when you talk like that. Even though I don't understand most of it" dammit Compa, I was getting in the mood to add some more complicated stuff on the table.

"It just means to do your best and don't become someone you aren't. Plain and simple"

"Yeah, I'll remember that!"

"Hey, we better get moving. It's almost the end of our lunch" Iffy said as she stands.

"Oh, you're right! Ms. Doctor is going to get all mad at me!" Compa stands as well.

I make a quick check on the time and confirmed it to be 1 in the afternoon. Thinking this, I stand up as well with the intent of seeing them off.

We all walk towards the front door and I stand there as both of them gave me their smiles.

"See you, Jared"

"Bye-bye, Jared"

"Yeah… see you"

"And also…" Iffy started.

"…Welcome back!" they both chorused.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

"4 pm…" the digital clocked displayed the time. The afternoon bores in on this quiet living room. Sitting on the sofa, I stare blankly on the television without any interest of turning it on. Well, actually I do, but I can't seem to find the remote.

"...*Sigh*… it's getting pretty late, maybe I shouldn't have let her go outside on her own…" Nepgear says as she stops whatever she is doing on her holographic computer.

"Please hurry home, Sis…" she prays, not minding someone who can hear her.

"Hmm…" so it's not like she's worried, well she is, but from those words… she's the type that can't stand it when someone they care for is away. Or rather, she just wants Neptune to stick with her no matter what and not leave her immediate vicinity. And it's not the 'motherly' type of worry either, she's a…

"…Dependent type…" she should overcome that. Even though in the 'book' she did, she is still showing symptoms.

"…Wait… why am I studying the girl like a book?" maybe because I'm too bored. Being bored does make our brains process more thought, after all. So if that were the case,I have to deal with my luggage now.

"I need to put it somewhere… Hm?" after I concluded of what I am going to do, Histy came floating pass the living room probably heading for the kitchen to drink something.

"Histy is there in any way that I can dispose of my luggage?"

"Hm? Ah, I almost forgot. Since you'll be staying here; we have a guest room for you to use…"

"Great. Perfect for my title as a passerby"

"It's on the second floor, second room to the right" the fairy giggled a bit and told me the directions.

With that in mind, I head to the second floor with the luggage on hand. I quickly find the designated room to the right after the sister's room. When I enter, I'm met with a shade of purple from under the light of day through the window on the side.

On the right is a futuristic like table that I think it might pop up a hologram computer. Right next to it is a window that shows the beautiful city outside. On the far side of the room are some shelves and under it some cabinets. On the left side, opposite of the window is a single bed.

"…" it's a pretty neat room. I put my luggage on the bed and pop it open.

"…*Sigh*… what am I going to do with these?" I've got torn clothes everywhere. You would think a cat just wrecked everything inside. A cat can't bend a gun but you get the point.

"…Later… I'm not in the mood" I take my wallet from my luggage, close it and headed back downstairs.

"…Now what am I going to do?" I ask myself. I already disposed my luggage. So I think…

"Hrm… Hm?" when I noticed the study table inside the living room, Nepgear seems to be out of it. She's just sloping around, greatly worried for her sister.

"Well… I am worried as well" she's not the only one.

"Nepgear, I'm going to look for Neptune" when I announced my next move. Nepgear jumps up and turns to me.

"I-I'm coming too!" she said.

"Just stay here. If we miss each other again, and Histy spilled the beans of me coming back, she'll go out once more to look for us"

-I know that the girl is worried, but if she goes out like this our search will be unproductive. She'll just run around and shout 'SIS! SIS!' or something and attract some monsters in the process.

"B-But…"

"Hrm… Okay, how about you do this for me. Let's surprise her. If Neptune comes home early, keep her occupied while I come back and surprise her. Or I can surprise her when I find her. Either way it's still a surprise"

"That's a good idea…" a mature voice resonates from behind. That would be Histy.

"Where did you pop out?" I ask

"The bathroom at the end of the hall"

"…B-but I want to look for Sis…" Nepgear said dejectedly.

"Nepgear, you do know that Neptune has been waiting a long time for him. Let them have their moment. You do want to see Neptune smile at her best, right?" Histy says.

"I do but…!"

"…If it would make you feel better… we'll look for her through Planeptune's Network" Histy suggested.

"At least that would be a lot faster than looking on foot and you can monitor her" I added. That argument hits home.

"…Okay…" she nods.

"…I'll keep you a secret until you surprise her" Nepgear says. Still a bit worried but definitely relieved. With a nod from me, I head out to the elevator and headed downward to the ground floor and think my options.

Hrm… If she were to go out questing she should probably go to a forest. She'll probably avoid the hassle inside a cave and just kill some random monsters under the light of day. And it's easy to fly back home when you're hungry. Or she's just sitting around somewhere eating pudding or something.

"We are talking about Neptune after all" I said to myself.

The elevator tings and doors opened and I exited…!

"Let's go Rom!"

"Ram… don't pull me…"

"*Sigh*… These two…!"

When I exited the elevator there were twins that came rushing in with one of the twins pulling her sister. There was another girl, with black hair worn in pigtails. The elevator door closes in on them and it rise.

"Hm… Ram? RAM? Random Access Memory?" I mumble to myself as I exited the Basilicom.

* * *

"Okay… so I'm back here huh?" the 5 o'clock wind breezes over my face as I look over the horizon.

On top of a tree, I watch the forest closely for any signs of anything that might resemble her passing through here. So far I haven't seen anything out of the ordinary. I've been checking the sky too but I can only see birds in the sky.

"Hm… maybe I should check that place out" I jump down from the tree, fix my coat and walk to a certain place.

The forest is uninhabited right now. So far I haven't seen any monsters of any sort and there are no monsters stalking me as well. The quiet forest sings a familiar hymn and the wind guides me as it dances along. The silent beat of my heart adds in harmony to the still melody and the percussion from my shoes adds a small tremor to the reticent orchestra.

I enjoy these kinds of moments until I came into an opening. A large crater, 2 meters in diameter, and all the plants and tree beyond that seems to be magnified towards the center. I feel a slight tingle from this place. She was here… I know it. But where is she?

"…First off… what happened here?" checking the environment I already concluded that it's not some sort of explosion. If it were it would be the talk of the town.

"…But at the time…" the wind was forcefully being pulled here, meaning that my conclusion of it being a black portal of doom is correct. And as crazy as it sound, this is neither the work of any animal or human that I know of.

"…Neptune…" now I'm really worried. Looking around all over, I find nothing in particular that comes to my attention. I quickly take out my phone, and dialed Histy, which I took her number as I bore myself earlier.

"_Ah, Jared good thing you called we -! *Ting!* *Ting!*_"

"Hey? Hello? Histy?"

"_The number you have called is currently unavailable. Please try again later"_

"The fuck?" what the hell is this? Some crappy comedy show?

"Hrm…" judging from the call, Histy seems to be eager to tell me something. Obviously. And 'good thing' means that I just happened to call at the opportune moment. If she was there she would have texted me avoiding suspicion of Neptune catching on the surprise. Meaning, Neptune is neither at home…

"And they found a lead…" with that in mind I run.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

"Hey, have you found her?" I ask as I went inside the living room.

"Hey! There's an intruder!" a small girl wearing a pink and white overcoat with white puffballs, a blue handbag and a ribbon. The girl also wears a white and pink hat to match with a pink rectangle in the center. Her leg-wear consists of white tights and shoes that match her dress in design. She has long brown hair and steel blue eyes.

"…?" I turn my head seeing no one behind me.

"Hey intruder, get out of her or else…!"

When I turn to see whose unfamiliar voice that was, it was another woman. She has red eyes and black hair worn in two pigtails that are tied up by two black ribbons with white stripes. She wears a black one-piece pleated dress decorated with white stripes at the bottom of the pleats. She also wears matching arm warmers and shoes with knee high black socks sharing the same color scheme as her dress.

And she's pointing a rifle at me.

"Um… Please don't kill me, is what I would say right?"

"Um… Uni… don't point your weapon at the intruder…"

Another girl, and is probably a twin of the other girl, that's confusing, spoke. Her appearance is almost exactly the same as the other girl. The only difference between them is that she wears a blue and white overcoat instead of a pink and white one along with a matching hat and shoes. Her handbag is also pink to correspond with the other girl's blue handbag. Another thing is that her hair is shoulder-length.

"Um… calm down you three…it's only Jared" Histy pops out from out of nowhere yet again.

"Did you get any lead Histy?" I ask, not minding the three guests here.

"We did but…"

"Wait a minute. Miss Histoire, do you know this intruder?" the girl in black, or Uni, asked. So this is what Uni looks like.

"Yes, he's Neptune's boyfriend"

"Ah, Nepgear's big sister's… b-B-B-B-B-B-BOYFRIEND!?"

* * *

"Hey, are you really dummy Neptune's boyfriend?" Ram said as she creeps closer to me.

After everything settled down, all of us gathered together in the living room. And when I mean all of us, Nepgear is not around for some apparent reason. And for some apparent reason, we are all sitting on the carpet despite the sofa being unoccupied. Ram is weirdly close to me, examining me like I'm a new creature or something. Rom on the other hand, is sitting with Uni, which is sitting opposite of me. And lasty Histy is on the top of my head.

-Also, they already introduced themselves. I didn't bother saying it though.

-And might I add reading Histy's book is like a spoiler to me. Nothing I can do but… it's kinda hard being the straight man here.

"I think I am. Unless, she got herself another man" I answer Ram.

"Hmm… I don't think she has one. What do you think Rom?"

"I think… he's telling the truth…" Rom said.

"Haa? But this guy is obviously suspicious! How can you tell?"

"…The ring" Rom pointed at the ring on my ring finger.

"…Remember when we played around with Neptune's ring and she got all mad at us?"

"Oh right, now I remember! She was really, really, really angry at us!"

"…That's because you took it from her… despite what Sis said…" Rom added.

"Meh, it's her fault for leaving that there!" Ram said.

"Anyway... the ring's color is similar to Neptune's..."

"Ooh! You're right! He _is_ Neptune's boyfriend!"

"*Sigh*… To think I would meet the infamous Jared…" Uni said.

"Infamous? What am I, a legend?" being called legendary is kinda cool.

"Um… no. But Neptune and Sis always talks about you"

"Noire does? What she say about me?"

"You know Sis's name?" Uni said in a slight surprise.

"I know Blanc as well"

"Impressive…" the quiet Rom said.

"Hey, hey! If you really know our Big Sis, tell me what she doesn't like?" and in contrast her twin sister is a loud girl.

"Blanc hates being called flat. And she doesn't like it if she's being compared to Neptune either. Also add in the fact that about Vert can easily crush her in between of her valleys of heaven" I answer truthfully.

"Hmm… Mhm… Mhm…" Ram took everything I said into note.

"Where's Nepgear Histoire?" Uni asked in great concern.

"I believe she still upstairs after everything that has happened…"

"I'll go see her!" Uni stands and made her exit.

"So… what happened while I was away?" I ask Histy.

"Well…"

* * *

Neptune: "_Histy! Histy!_"

Someone I don't know(?): "_That's Big Histy? It's hard to tell from Mini-Histy's video…_"

Someone who looks like Noire: "_I can't believe it… She wasn't making it up…_"

Neptune: "_Yo, Histy! Do you recognize my pretty face!? It's a-me, Neptune!_"

Histy: "_Yes. There is no mistaking you, Neptune. To think you were taken to another dimension…"_

Neptune: "_Think how surprised _I _was! But you know how I can come back home, right?_"

Histy: "_Well, about that…_"

Nepgear: "_Sis!? Is that you, Sis!?_"

Neptune: "_Huh? That sounds like…_"

Histy: "_Please Nepgear, we are attempting to hold a very serious conversation right now_"

Nepgear: "_Let me see her! I want to talk to my big sister!_"

Neptune: "_W-wait, no, do not push_ _do not push your face so close to that…!_"

Nepgear: "_It really _is_ you, Sis!_"

Neptune: "_Whassup, Nep Jr.? Been a while. You good?_"

Someone I don't know(?): "_Oh, my. That girl looks like an older, more mature Neppy… But she asked for her _big_ sister…_"

Someone who looks like Noire: _"Um, no matter what lens you look at it through, Neptune is totally the younger sister"_

Neptune: _"Um, this is my really touching reunion scene, so don't butt in. We get that a lot, though"_

Nepgear: "_We just couldn't find you anywhere…! I've been worried sick!... You … left me again… *hic!*_"

Neptune: "_Whoa, let's plug that leaky eye-plumbing! I'm fine, and I'll be home real soon!_"

Nepgear: "_Okay… I'm so sorry I made you go work all by yourself…_"

Histy: "_Excuse me, Nepgear. I hate to interrupt you, but…_"

Ram: "_Lame! How come only Nepgear gets to have so much fun!?_"

Nepgear: "_Well, I'm talking to my big sister right now, so…_"

Uni: "_Big Sister? Neptune? So she's actually in another dimension_"

Rom: "_Let me see, too…_"

Ram: "_Yeah, but me first!_"

Nepgear: "_Huh? Everyone, um…_"

Histy: "_Do not crowd me all at once! Oof…!_"

Ram: "_Yay! Neptune, can you see me?_"

Rom: "_Another… dimension? Oooh…_"

Uni: "_It looks kind of weird, huh? Wait, is that _my_ big sister!? Sis is over there, too…?_"

Nepgear: "_G-Go away, everyone! I'm still talking to Neptune…_"

Ram: "_Bring us back a really expensive souvenir! Like a bucket of candy!_"

Rom: "_Maybe… a picture book…_"

Uni: "_So if I go over there, does that mean I have two older sisters!?_"

Nepgear: "_Please stop pushing against me… There's not enough room…!_"

Histy: "_E-Everyone, enough is enough!_"

"You have it rough, huh?" I commented.

"…I couldn't breathe, you know…"

Histy: "_haa… haa… I managed to get them into a different room_"

Neptune: _"Oh, you're back! Don't go blank on us again! My heart jumped and skipped a hop!"_

Histy: "_That was no fault of mine. Nepgear and her friends were interfering. That aside, let us discuss the matter at hand. Getting you back home_"

Neptune: "_Oh, yeah that's kind of important. How do we do it?_"

Histy: "_About that… I am unsure at this time_"

Neptune: "*_Zhooooooo!*... Are you being Exaggeristy? I just made a dramatic noise, so you better be joking!_"

Histy: "_There is nothing to be done. I only recently learned you arrive in another dimension_"

Neptune: "_But it's your jobby-job to do something about it, right? But it's cool even if you cheat, it's not breaking the rules. Deus ex machina, baby!_"

Histy: "_Do not demand such things of me! I will research and then contact you once I find a solution_"

* * *

"But seriously, this is how things are gonna be for now, so let's have fun, Plutie!"

"Yay! Let's play forever…!"

"Mhm!" behind these happy smiles, Neptune was thinking a million other things that the others do not know about.

She had recently had a talk with Histy, "big" Histy. And she's most likely happy to see that everyone is all fine and dandy. Although "big" Histy did shove away her crying sister and the others, it's all good. But the subject of her thought is elsewhere. Or rather, it's a dimension away.

* * *

Big Histy: "_Do not demand such things of me! I will research and then contact you once I find a solution_"

Neptune: "_Whoa, wait! Histy, don't hang up so fast!_"

Mini-Histy: "_Oh. ((=_￣□￣=;),)she ended the call"

Neptune:_ "Ugh, figures. The one time I need her, she makes some excuse and hangs up on my face"_

Mini-Histy: "_Even though you are upset at the other me, I feel like I am getting yelled at… (_つД`_)… Ah, she's dialing again_"

Big Histy: "_Ah, I almost forgot. Neptune, can I ask if the ring on your finger is safe?_"

Neptune: "_Nepu? Why would you ask my all-time cherished ring? Don't tell me you auctioned the other one!?_"

Big Histy: "_I won't do… Or rather can't do such a thing. But… ^^__)_"

Mini-Histy: "_Ah, she hanged up again_"

Neptune: "_Guah! What was that about!? What's with the cryptic emoticon from her!?_"

* * *

"…My ring, huh?" Neptune silently said. The two of them are occupied on doing something, so they didn't notice her.

If there is one thing that she wanted, other than staying here and play with Plutie, other than play with her silly sister, or tease the phony Noire, or dress up Mini-Histy, is to see 'him' again. It's been 8 long years, and she's been praying ever since. Hoping. Waiting. That someday, she'd wear that dress that she wanted for so long.

Neptune looks at that beautiful moon through the window. It's as majestic as it always been. As if it was like another thing that connects him and her. Neptune caresses the ring on her finger…

"The moon is pretty again…" and contemplates on how she misses him so.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9:

We often see siblings being an inseparable pair, especially twins. Growing up together, being playmates, sharing your own experiences, those things defy how close a bond between siblings can be. But we can't deny that all of us have different tastes, likes and dislikes. It is just human nature to find something that we are most comfortable with. And even despite those tedious difference, a sibling's bond and love is much more.

And because of that, whenever a brother or sister just up and about disappears, their siblings will always be the first to act or react.

"DRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIFT!"

"Nope…"

*CRASH!*

"Guah! I lost again!"

In the 8 o' clock time of the living room, mind you it's still the same day, Ram and I have been playing a game called "Fireout Heaven!". It's a racing game where we can wreck the other cars. We've been playing as a two car race this past hour and she hasn't beaten me once.

"So unfair! You totally cheated!" she accused. And in every race she does so.

"Hey, it's just how the game works. Don't blame me"

In fact, it's easy to wreck any player's car just by hitting the turbo. A small bump from any side can send the other car flying anywhere. I noticed this mechanic when Ram accidentally rammed me.

"Let's play a different game then!" Ram demanded, browsing through the number of game cases through the cabinet under the TV.

"Sorry, I need to cook something, It's already late" I put down the controller, standup and headed over to the kitchen.

"Aww… Rom! Let's play this fighting game!" her sister says to her quiet twin, who was just watching our bravado.

"…I'm not that good with fighting games…" her sister replied.

I headed over to the kitchen for the first time in the last 8 hours of my stay here. I mean it. So stepping in, I'm surprised how silvery it is. On the right is a long kitchen counter just consisting of a double sink and four electric cooking stoves. There are cupboards under it, and some cabinets up top. On the far side is just an extension of the counter, and the cabinet up top. There's also a wall mounted knife holder, a chopping board and 2 baskets filled with onions and garlic's respectively. On my right is the fridge, and pots and pans hanged neatly on the wall.

"Now what am I going to cook?" I peer inside the fridge.

"…What are you looking for mister…?" when I look at who that shy, low voice was, Rom came up to my side.

"…I'm looking for something for all of us to eat" I answer her promptly.

"Dinner…?"

"Yes, it's for dinner. How do you feel like having some soup for dinner?" I ask her and she ponders.

"…I guess, I'd like that…" Rom answered sincerely despite her shy voice.

"…Minestrone then"

* * *

"Mmm~ Mmm~ Mmm~ Ram~, Ram~ It's time to eat~!"

"Huh? What's with this aroma of delicious soup?"

"Careful Rom, you might just trip" I warn her.

Rom carries the tray which contains 2 bowls of minestrone to the dining table. She watched me in awe as I cook this dish. And throughout all of it, we made some light chat. Apparently, despite her shyness, she's older than Ram which kinda surprised me a little.

Rom and placed the trays on the table and she sits on her chair. Ram followed her sister and sits a seat beside her. They each took their spoons and their own bowls.

"*Slrrrrrp!*…!"

"*Slrrrrrp!*…It's so tasty~!" Rom said.

"…What kind of soup is this!? It's super delish *Slrrrrrp!*" Ram is gobbling on her soup.

"Hey, you're making a mess" I take out my handkerchief and wipe Ram's mouth.

"…Mmmm… For an intruder, you're kinda cool!" what's with the evaluation results?

"Mhm!" Rom agreed.

"I'm just doing what normal people would normally do, okay. Now eat up your soup, I'll call the others"

"Okay!... *Slrrrrrrrrp!*"

I take a bowl with me and walk towards the study table where Histy is supposedly studying something from the holographic computer. If my guess is right, it's a way to get Neptune back.

"Hey Histy, its dinner time" I call out, as I peer through the research she's been doing.

"I'm aware. But I can't just leave this work undone" she said, still continuing on her work.

"…Alright. I'll leave the bowl here. If it gets cold, call me"

"Thanks" I leave the bowl on the table, careful not to disturb her.

I headed upstairs, and knock on the door for the Nep sisters room. The door opened and Uni came into view.

"How is she?"

"She's a mess. She's just sulking and mumbling about how worried she is"

"Uh… Sis left me… she might be all alone crying for some pudding right now… or maybe she's in a forest somewhere… she's back to level 1 after all… Ugggghhh… Sis…" I think I can hear a ghost whispering in the background.

"Wow…" I say my astonishment.

"…*Sigh*… See? She's really messed up"

"…Well, we can't just leave her like that. And Rom and Ram might eat your shares if we stay here too long" maybe those two are having there seconds right now.

"Uni, just eat dinner. I'll bring a bowl to her"

With a nod, both of us headed downstairs and arrived at the dinner table. Rom and Ram have indeed eating their third share, presumably coming from the pot in the kitchen. I take a bowl which is still hot and turned my back…

"Hey, don't do something weird to her got that" Uni sounds just like Noire.

"Sure, sure"

When I opened the door to the Nep sisters room, I feel the eeriness of a sulking woman. Nepgear is under the covers of the lower bunk of their bed mumbling to herself as if chanting. Geez, talk about a soap opera. Even the soup is sulking from her constant mumbling. Crap, I better lighten the mood before the soup will turn into mush.

"Nepgear, it's time for dinner"

"I'm not hungry" she "sadly" answered. C'mon, don't lay out your defeated self to me.

"C'mon, eat up and I'll let you continue on your mumbling way…" I said.

"...I'm not hungry" sigh… what am I going to do?

"…I think she's doing just fine…" I said. This might lighten up the mood.

"…"

"…Maybe your right… maybe she is in a forest somewhere right now crying for some pudding to fall from the sky…Or maybe she's facing a really powerful monster right now and can't transform"

"Sis…"

"But it's Neptune we're talking about, right? The girl has the ability to make friends on a drop of a hat. So I'm sure she's just fine…" when you think about it now, Neptune make friends with almost everybody.

"Do you think she'll be alright?" Nepgear's voice is still uncertain.

"…I don't think… I know" that somehow did the trick.

"…You really are a nice guy" a light laugh, one that does not totally banish the worry from her.

"Yeah, yeah. C'mon, slurp up this bowl of soup before it gets cold…"

"Mm, hm… I'll eat it downstairs" she said.

She gets out of the bed and took the bowl off my hands. Nepgear passed me and closes the door behind her, leaving me in here. Well, this is an opportune moment. Looking around, my eyes fall on Neptune's desk. I find myself staring at it, thinking that she might pop out from under the floor.

"…I'm just as worried…" when I look closely, under the study table are rows of books. And judging by the cover from the spine, their comics. But what I really am looking at is a gift bag, the same gift bag that I 'left' her with.

"…No" I resist the urge to show the contents; maybe because it's not the right time, or maybe because if I do, the urge to shout to 'the world' and punching that guy in the face would spurt out.

"…After I eat, I'm going to help Histy out" I can't just relax just yet, it seems.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10:

"…I can't seem to find a solution" Histy said on top of my head.

"…Just rest, your head is all bottled up" I turn a page of my research.

"…_haa…_" Histy goes all belly on the top of my head.

The very next day, morning to be exact, I'm at the couch reviewing my work that I did for 5 years. I don't know if it could help though, because for one, there's no particle accelerator in Gamindustri that I could use. But maybe I could find a hidden formula that might prove useful, like using the standard model to create another black portal or something.

Rom and Ram are playing some game on the carpet floor, not a video game mind you. Uni and Nepgear are out, presumably doing some morning shopping. I kinda knew that all three of our guest will be staying here for a night or two.

"…What are you looking at exactly?" Histy asked.

"The thing that sent me back here" I review my derivation of the Higg's boson formula as I answer.

"I've been meaning to ask… How did you get back here?"

"I went and created a blackhole… jump in it, and hoped that I don't get stuck in the singularity…" I answer.

"…You're joking right?"

"No, I'm not apparently. You can read the details about my work under this plan guide that I made for my _fixer_" I held out a piece of paper.

"..." Histy takes it and read its contents.

"…! Th-this is… mind… blowing…" her voice seems to be a mixture of 'amazement' and 'scared'.

"…*Sigh*… You really are one amazing person…" she gave me back my plan paper.

"Doing everything I can for the woman I love" sounds cheesy but that's my honest feelings.

Returning my eyes on this 27 page work of 'how to get back to Gamindustri' thesis, I find nothing of the sort to help me out. Well I can always make a particle accelerator of my own but that would be too difficult and one that could take me a year max with Planeptune's technology. Hrm…

"…If Neptune is gone for a whole year. Planeptune is doomed, right?"

"'Doomed' is an accurate description…"

"Right… well, making another LHC is thrown off the window" that sucks, I wouldn't mind going into another one.

"…You were actually thinking that?

"Of course, but since it would affect the nation, I'd rather not. Besides, Neptune would want to have a place she would come back to"

"…Ah, I thought you would make Neptune to jump into one?"

"You were actually thinking that?" she won't survive that black hole, you know.

"*Sigh*… I don't know, guess I need to search some more in my index…"

"I can always read your book though. It would probably cut the time for your search"

"True. But I believe you need to go shopping for clothes, right?"

"Yeah" it's a good thing that I have one more set of clothes that I can use. But the rest are a mess, and earlier, when the garbage truck came around, I went and throw them. If I even try to patch them with a sewing kit, people are going to say that I'm wearing some rags.

"…In any case though… are you sure that my cards can be read in the ATM's here?"

"They can. Most of Planeptune's ATM's are metamorphic"

"In other words they can read any card" sounds convenient, but I'll take that with a grain of salt since my card is from another dimension. So I won't expect much.

Thinking that, Histy floated away from my head as I put down the papers on the study table. I gave myself a light stretch, a glass of water from the kitchen, and headed towards the exit down the hall. Well, I was about to go when I sensed two shrimps following me.

"Going out as well?" I ask the twins.

"We're going home! Sis will be all mad at us if we're out too long"

"…Mhm!" Rom agreed to that.

"Hrm…" well, I am looking for clothes and my attire can probably fight the cold off especially if it's Lowee's.

"How about I escort you two? Besides I want to meet Blanc and see how her face reacts"

"…You want to go to Lowee too?" Rom asked.

"Yeah. But I need to withdraw some money first at the ATM. Okay?"

"Okay!" the two chorused.

I called out to Histy to and say that the twins are going back to Lowee. After I got confirmation, we exited and let the elevator fall with us in it. We exited the Basilicom after, and proceeded to one of the border exits.

As we are being transported through these blue tubes of advanced technology, we notice that it's packed with employees trying to make way towards their work. It's kinda funny. As advanced as Planeptune is, it's noteworthy to see that it's not using the easy way out and just use automatons in doing all the work. Most people would want some labor or office work. Because humans, as inefficient as they are, and we've got admit that, have judgments which are not that easily emulated in mechatronics. Because robots are just predefined methods all stacked together to react to certain scenarios whereas humans judges solely on how they feel, react, see, and many other layers that are too complex. Hell, we haven't understood how our brains work, scientifically speaking.

-Essentially, we don't judge between 1's and a 0's, because emotions and feelings are not always about cause and effect.

As I was thinking about such things, there was a woman opposite of us that is handing out some fliers, as she was being transported. When we she was able to reach the flier to me, I take it and read its contents… Nope, don't need to read it. It's the same bullshit as before. The 'World is a better place without CPU's'.

"Hrm…" I'm not against such protests, but I was thinking that people believes in such bullshits. The proposals here can't even stand on their own. And if you read between the lines, it mainly targets CPU's in general and does not solve a nations problems or anything.

"…I'll talk to Histy about it later"

When we came out of the blue tube, to my luck, there's an ATM a few strides away. It's just sitting there begging to be used. That's convenient.

"Hey you two, I'm going to withdraw some money"

After my announcement, we headed over there and confirmed that it's on and waiting for a card to read. I pulled out my wallet and brought out 'one of' my black cards. I do hope that it can read it. I slide the card on the reader, and prompts me type in on my pin code.

"…It works" that's good.

I type my pin code and waited for a few until it welcomes me. I have a few options here, but first I touched the 'check balance' option. The UI isn't so bad. Things that are important are shown in easy to find places and the loading time isn't so long. After a couple of seconds, the screen displays the following:

Name: Rasleigh Diego

Current Balance: 2, 967, 475, 820, 591, 030, 834 Credits

"Holy…!" I stop myself from swearing. There are kids here after all. But c'mon, I only have a couple million dollars in my cards, well saying that just hurts to the guys that are not well off, and I'm able to get this amount!

-The name is fake, by the way.

"…If I release all of this, it might cause an inflation" don't want to have the economy run around like a headless chicken.

Before I withdraw a small amount, take note 'small', I checked the dial keys and the screen and anything around the machine for something sinister. I don't want to have my pin code logged after all. And checking that I'm in the clear, I withdrew a few amounts of money, put it in my wallet, and then logged out.

"Okay, little ladies, we're going to Lowee now? You ready?"

"HO!" Ram raised her fist.

"…Ho…!" Rom tried to execute the same but came out in a shy way.

"Okay! Let's GO!" I give a cheer and the twins followed suit.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11:

"Whoo… Well getting here was not that fun as I have imagined or hoped"

"Mister! You're so fun!"

"…Mhm!"

-Yeah, enjoy the misery of others you crazy little twins.

I have with me the twins each on both of my arms. And they're holding my neck for support. So anyway, as we made our way towards Lowee, under the guidance of our extreme lovely Ram, we were to get here with some monsters chasing us. You wouldn't believe how many of those fox with mechanical claws were chasing us. And because of that running, the time is 3 in the afternoon.

"…Next time, I'll bring my gun…" I knew the way here is bad but I didn't think it would be _that_ bad.

"You two good?" I ask the twins with a slight nudge from me.

"Mhm!" Ram nodded.

"…But won't your arms get tired?" Rom asked.

"I'm pretty strong, and you two are light so I'm basically carrying nothing" it's true though.

"C'mon, let's get you two home" we walk a little ways before we are stopped by the border guards.

"Hold, passport please" not again. Wait... don't they recognize these two?

"Hey, do you not recognize these two twerps?"

"What are you saying?" ...bingo.

"You idiot! Shame on you for not recognizing the nations CPU candidates!" I shouted at the soldier.

"CPU Candi-! I'm sorry sir and madams for not recognizing!" the soldier saluted, and the rest followed suit.

"This is a sign of disrespect! I should report this to the goddess!"

"…!"

"Hehe…"

"_C'mon Ram, don't laugh…_" I whisper at her.

"Alright, I am a forgiving man… BUT! I will only let this slide if you drop down and give me 200 now!"

"2-200!" the soldiers gasp.

"Is there any problem?"

"Sir, no sir!" the guards goes in a push-up position and started their 200 push-ups.

"Don't stop even if we're not around, got that!?"

"SIR, YES SIR!" easy to fool, and the twins resorted to holding in their laugh.

We cross the border and officially entered the 'fun theme' of Lowee.

Lowee is a snow filled country. As such, it's always snowing whenever possible. But this time around, it's not snowing all that much anymore. The temperature has risen a little, it's still cold but it's tolerable now. Plus everything is kinda colorful, whereas last time it had the most ridiculous of houses which are modeled after cookie jars and the likes. And what in heavens are these thing floating down in the sky with the snow? Sparkly rainbow thingies?

The only noticeable things that have changed are two things, one of which is that the whole city is under a theme park/fun house theme; hence, the reason why I called it colorful. You can even find a mini fun castle here being used as a house for the hell of it. And the second thing is…

"That's the Basilicom, Mister!" Ram pointed.

"…" what the hell am I looking at?

What I'm looking at is three building observatory, from what I can see anyway. The 'observatory' is surrounded by a purple wall which is surprisingly tall. One of the three main buildings have is cylindrical in shape, the other has huge side archway under it, and the last one seems to be a giant tower with an enormous, in terms of diameter, disc dome at the middle. That last building also has a neck above it which extends to a small scale saucer like disc dome. That building, again, also has a spiral design between the large disc and the very top small disc with various color blocks.

"That is one amazing Basilicom" last time it was a castle, now this?

"Mhm! And it's fun in there too!" Ram caught my comment.

"…Hey, mister put us down…" Rom pleaded.

"All right, too uncomfortable?" I put the twins down and asked.

"…It's embarrassing…"

"I see…" well, she is quiet girl, so being shy sometimes comes after that.

We march on towards the ridiculous Basilicom. Rom and I follow Ram kicking the snow on the ground as she goes. And as we walk, my eyes caught something that is outside of prying eyes. In the alley of two houses, is a graffiti which spelled in very bold letters.

**CPU's ARE NOT NEEDED!**

"…Hrm…" my instincts are never wrong. But from what I can tell, these protests are getting bigger. And if they're able to do graffiti then most likely they won't hesitate to make drastic actions as well.

"Upsie-daisy…!"

"Uwaaa…! Wh-What are you doing?"

"Giving you a better view" I carry Rom over my head and let her sit on my shoulder.

"Woooooow… Lowee looks so cool…" she said, awestricken by just a change in perspective.

"Grab on tight Rom" I started jogging and pass Ram after a few strides.

"Wheee…!?"

"Ram, last to get to the Basilicom won't get a cookie!"

"Hey! That's unfair!" Ram notice us pass her, filed a complaint and run along herself.

* * *

"Yay! I win…!" Ram cheered.

"Sorry Rom… we lost"

"Mm, Hm… It was fun"

After I deliberately made my own defeat, I put Rom down for reasons of being embarassed. The twins lead me inside the premises of the Basilicom. Inside, is large field containing the three buildings I've mentioned and some smaller buildings. There are also people here conducting their own business and they won't miss a chance to steal a glance at me, since I'm currently escorting the nation's candidates.

We enter one of the enormous buildings, in particular that one with a giant disc dome. And my surprise never ceases from me. Do you remember how the lobby interior looked like before? You know, that castle that looked like it was a rip off from King Arthur? If you do, then I'll be saving some time. The only difference is that there is no grand staircase rather, a grand elevator.

"This place hasn't changed, except for that elevator though"

"…You've been here before?"

"I did. But last time it was a castle"

"…A castle" Rom sounds excited.

"Ask your Big Sister about it"

Rom and Ram lead me in and the elevator lifted us up towards the 23rd floor. And when it opened I'm greeted by a very, very large hallway that could be inferred as 'a rich bastard is living here'. Well, a rich _goddess_ is living here after all. The twins run along, familiar of the setting and pointed to a double door nearest to us.

"…_Hey mister… we're going to play a prank!_" Ram whispered. Well, I'm up for that.

"…_What are we going to do?_"

"…_Just wait here with Rom_" sounds easy enough.

"…_Alright_"

Ram entered the room and left the door open, probably for a quick getaway. And in a great loud voice that even the heavens could not match she shouted:

"SIS! YOU HAVE THE SMALLEST BREASTS EVER!"

"WHAT DID YA SAY YOU BRAT!?"

"Hehe…!" Ram runs away from the room as thunderous anger follows her.

"Okay… Rom, let's run again" I try to reach out to the twin but…

"Mm, hm. YA!"

Suddenly, in great timing too, Rom pushed me from behind just as Ram had ran out. This made me get in the way of a goddess's rage from her sister. As such, I don't want to be killed after all, I quickly react and make a step, twist my body and slammed the door shut. Since the door opens outward.

*BAM!* *BAM!*

"GUAH!" well, that's a comedy.

"WHAT THE HELL!? WHO THE HELL CLOSEDTHE DOOR!?"

"Nice to see you too Blanc"

I open the door and pop my head in. I see Blanc in her usual demeanor on the floor feeling her head. Blanc stares at me, her blue eyes fixated on me. And adding effect to the drama her cap fell off but was unable to get any attention from its owner.

"J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-!"

"Good to see you, Blanc"

"JARED!"


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12:

"… So…"

"So?"

"…When did you come back?"

"Yesterday..."

By the small tea table, we're inside this huge room, mind you, Blanc and I are having Xī Hú Lóng Jǐng tea. It is a type of green tea that originated in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. The time is already 4, an hour after we arrived. And it's also been sometime after Blanc screamed her surprise at my sudden appearance. You would think Vert and Noire would do the same too.

"…First, you disappear then you reappear" she said after she drank some tea.

"That's what a passerby does, actually" I sip some of my tea.

"…And you slammed a door against my face"

"Sorry, sorry. Everything that my mind was thinking about is how not to die…*Siip!*"

"…I want to punch you now" a sinister offer.

"Please don't, it's bad for my health" I say jokingly as I take another sip.

"…In any case, how've you been? You haven't aged a day" I ask her. Her outlook is just the same as ever.

"…I'm a CPU after all, so I don't age"

"Sounds convenient" I take another sip.

"…How about you? You haven't aged as well"

"I'm a passerby after all"

"…I don't think a passerby won't age after 8 years…"

"Hrm… Well, all will be revealed soon enough so don't step on the gas just yet" well, it's going to take a lot in me to tell them who I really am, so I better steel myself when that time comes.

"…So what brings you here? I thought you'd be with Neptune?"

"Well… I was supposed to be with Neptune and…"

"And?"

"You'll find out soon enough" a question mark floats above her head by that cryptic answer.

"And the thing about me here, I became the escort of your twin sisters"

"…Well, they do seem attached to you when they got here" a small smile from the big sister.

"Eh? You I thought you color that pink?" Ram said. The twins are here by the way, they're only a few strides away and probably coloring a coloring book.

"Mm, Hm… It's supposed to be red" Rom corrected.

"Eh? Hey, Mister what's the color of a rose?"

"It's red" I say the generic answer.

"Eh!? I thought it was pink!?"

"There's a pink rose as well" there are different colors of roses, woman, or rather, little missy.

"There is!? Rom, let's color that one pink and that one red!"

"Mhm!" the twins return to coloring the flowers.

"…They're quite attached to you"

"Maybe because of my charm"

"…Ehe, that would be very likely…"

"Truth of the matter is, I wanted to buy some clothes in Lowee"

"…Clothes? Isn't there a mall in a Planeptune?"

"Well, yeah, there is. But if I go there with _these _kids in tow, it would be too tragic"

"…I see that you got their personality down"

"Rom, I can handle. But Ram…"

"…I know. She can be really impatient sometimes" well… Blanc is not a big sister for nothing.

"Mister! Let's play a game with Sis!" Ram shouted once more.

"Sorry, missy, I've got to go on a shopping spree today" I replied.

"…Eh? Fine, you're going to miss out all the fun we're going to have! Let's go Ram" such a spoiled kid.

"…Ehe, bye Mister" Rom waves at me. I gave her a wave as well and they made their exit.

"But they're pretty adorable if you think about it"

"…That's why they're my sisters" Blanc stands up from her chair.

"Going to play with them?" I stand up as well.

"…Mhm, who knows what kind of damage are they going to pull, if I'm not around" a responsible big sister.

"I'm going for some shopping then. Where's the mall anyway?"

"…It's the next big building. The one with a yellow roof" so the mall is near your house?

Reaching the door, I open it for her just like any gentleman would. I exit the room after her.

"…Will you be staying for the night?"

"I guess, it's already 4 and going back to Planeptune would be disastrous" traveling at night is dangerous after all.

"...Okay. You can come back here and I'll escort you to a guest room"

"Great. Thanks Blanc, I'll be going" I turn my back.

"…Also…"

"Yeah?"

"…It's nice to see you again too…" a smile, one that we all rarely see from her. Despite her poker, bored expression that she always wears, that smile of hers can be a major selling point in terms of cuteness and rarity.

* * *

"Pretty big mall, I've got to say…"

The mall is tremendously huge. If you look up, your neck would probably creek as you probably can't see the end. A bright golden array of marbled pillars supporting each floor, a vast amount of shopping units each having their own logo and having their own flagship selling points fills my eyes. If I were a shopaholic, I'd have my saliva flowing from my mouth. Sadly, I'm not.

I walk over to the map, which is being shown inside a glass case, and study it for a while. It doesn't take long for me to take off, and head towards the escalator. Apparently the second floor is filled with clothes of all kinds from any brand; a cradle for any fashion connoisseur.

"Sir, ma'am! Please accept this informative pamphlet! Sir, ma'am! Please accept this informative pamphlet!"

"They're everywhere, huh…"

When I landed on the second floor via the escalator I'm met with one of those people again. And again it's the same bullshit. And yet, the stench coming from these 'people', they are not in any way smell like a turd mind you, is something sinister. If they're this big already, judging from the fact that I've seen the signs, then, plot wise, they're going to become a headache.

"…I better get my shopping spree done…"

* * *

"…Well… that's done…"

Going out on a shopping spree always takes time. And when I mean 'takes time' I mean that time flies way to fast. I only have two objectives, buy a bunch of clothes, pants and underwear, and a bag to hold them all in. And even with that it took me 2 hours of shopping.

" 'Hey…' "

Outside, I'm greeted by a blue haired person with pink red eyes and wearing a white bathing suite with unattached sleeves with white and light blue colors. It's Blanc in her HDD.

"What? Escorting me to my room already, Blanc?"

" 'No… but Histoire called me and asked for a meeting' "

"And your taking me as well, I suppose"

" 'Yeah…' "

"All right. Can you carry me, though? I've got a bag full of clothes"

" 'Heh, want me to punch you…?' "

"I told you it's bad for my health" it would seriously destroy my organs.

" 'That was just a joke...' " when were you able pull jokes off?

" 'Here' " Blanc offer's her hand to me.

"Aren't you gonna grab my waist? It's a lot easier"

" 'Wh-Wh…! There's no way I can do that!' " she blushed, as red as her eyes.

"Haha… I'm just messing with you…" I pet her head.

"I know woman… I know…" I whisper. She seemed to have understood that.

"Okay, let's get to Planeptune" I hold her hand and she grabs on to it tight. I feel a sense of affinity from her hand, a rather gentle affinity.

She brings out her holographic wings, and we started to float upwards. The scene below me gets bigger and bigger and the crowds of people who were eaves dropping on us are getting smaller. And when we reached a good altitude, the night show of Lowee comes to view. Everything is literally glittering with color. And if you remember that there were some sparkly things, it added to that effect. It's like a child's dream coming to reality.

Blanc flies due south-west, according to geographical directions. She flies fast, but her speed borders that of sound. She's not actually breaking the sound barrier. The night wind flies against my face.

*BRRRR!* *BRRRR!*

The phone in my pocket vibrates. With my free hand, I take the call.

"Yes, this is Jared? How may I be of service?"

"_Jared... where are you right now?_"

"Histy, apparently I'm in the sky"

"_Then I presume that you're heading back to Planeptune with Blanc?_"

"Yeah… So what is it?"

"_I'll tell you the details about it when you get back_"

*BEEP!*

It wasn't before long that Planeptune came into our view. And the most, eye catching would be Planeptower which is being lighted by lilac spot lights from street level. Blanc finds circular terrace from the side of the tower and we land on it as she turns off HDD, returning to her usual look, and we separate our hands.

-I heard a slight disappointed tone from her.

Giving the girl a pet on the head, we exited the terrace. Being met with the familiar circular hallway, both of us followed it towards the living room.

"Ah, you're here" Histy noticed us.

Everyone is here, and by everyone, Uni, Nepgear, Iffy, Compa, Histy, and two more others. The two others in question have black hair tied in two pigtails in blue ribbons and a blond long hair that goes down in waist length. The two turned to us and…

"…J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J" not again.

"…! Ja-Ja…!"

"_haaa…_"

"Sis!"

"…Compa, Noire just collapsed" Iffy shouted.

"I'm on it!" Compa immediately turned nurse mode on.

"Well that ruined the trend…" and I thought the 'J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J' thing would continue.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13:

"You know, you fainting kinda ruined the trend"

"I can't help it, you know!"

"Please… indoor voices…" I plea.

Noire and Vert are both sitting opposite of me by the dining table. Uni is beside her sister, Iffy is beside me, and so is Compa. Blanc is sitting adjacent to us, and opposite of each other. Nepgear is by the kitchen, making teas and lastly, Histy is on the top of my head yet again. Does my head really feel that comfortable?

"Geez, you disappear in on us and you come back just like that of course I'd be surprised!" deja vu.

"…At least I didn't faint after seeing you girls" damn, teasing this woman is really fulfilling, huh?

"Hey!"

"Now, now, Noire, calm down. At least be happy that he's back" Vert said.

"How can I be happy about this?!"

"Geez woman, and here I thought I'm an important friend. So that's why you don't have any friends…" I say my conclusion.

"I-I do have friends!"

"Oh really? Tell me who they are"

"Um…" she grew quiet for some _apparent _reason.

"Don't worry Noire! I'll be your friend!" Compa saves the day!

"…Compa…" the corner of Noire's eyes have started to tear up. But…

"So Sis really doesn't have any friends…" Uni had concluded as such.

"…Guh!"

"…straight from the little sister's mouth" Blanc quietly says.

"Hey! He was teasing me!" she shouted once more.

"There, there Noire. No one's going to hold it against you if you just admit it, right?" Vert said, teasingly.

"Why are you siding with them!?"

"…That's because I didn't faint just from seeing him" a smile from Vert. It almost like we're ganging up on Noire, in which it is.

"Oh… but I did hear you stuttering though…" I rebutted.

"That was just me being surprised seeing you…" well at least she really didn't have time to shout my name in surprise.

"…Right, right. It was probably from the fact that Noire fainted first before you did"

"My MMO prowess had proven me once again, right Iffy?" she winked at Iffy as she also brandished her tits.

"Wh-Why are you asking me?" and why are you blushing?

"In any case, how are you two? Also, sorry for this Histy" I apologize to the fairy on top of my head. She did call all of us just for a meeting.

"It's fine. It's not that worse like when Neptune is around"

"Mhm, we're fine… but I still can't believe that you're back. 8 years and all…" Vert said.

"As you can see, I'm fine. Not like I need your concern or anything" geez, this woman…

"I can see that… and I can see that you two haven't aged a day as well"

"Of course keeping my size at an appropriate ratio is a must after all" and you're still brandishing you're tits? I can get that breasts are a woman's pride but this is rubbing in on someone who doesn't have such proportions. Or is it deliberate?

"And you haven't aged a day as well" Noire noticed.

"Aged?" Uni noticed that description.

"I'm a passerby, after all. And don't step on the gas just yet, it's not the right time" I say my other spiel before she could say something.

"I've brought some tea…" Nepgear appears with a tray full of tea cups of tea. She distributed it us neatly.

"By the way, where's Nep? We're all here, if she's sleeping she should have heard all of us by now" Iffy said as Nepgear takes the last empty seat.

"Maybe she's out questing" Compa said.

"But it's already 7 pm. She should be home by now" Iffy logically concludes.

"…Maybe she got lost…" Blanc said.

"…Or maybe she's eating her puddings in the forest somewhere"

"…Or got eaten by a monster" Vert and Noire added in their own conclusion.

"Well, truth be told, Neptune is gone to another dimension"

"…"

"…"

"…"

The silence is not awkward. I mean it really. It feels like everyone had expected such an answer and had a face that says 'Oh, I see…' as if confirmed of something. Except for Compa though, she's just shocked. Oh, I know where this is going…

"EEEEEEEEEEEH!?" great, I just discovered that I'm psychic. Should I bend a spoon with my mind every time I introduce myself?

"Wh-What should we do!? Nep-Nep is in another dimension!"

"What _can_ we do? I'm sure Nep is fine" Iffy said. It's not 100% confident, but the girl knows Neptune's capabilities.

"H-How can she be fine IF? Sh-she's all alone and is probably hungry…" as for the subject of the topic's little sister, she's still a worrywart.

"It's great and all that all of you are worried, me included of course, but we can't do anything but worry and hope that she's alright. And if we worry too much, we're going to be blinded of the things that are right in front of us and just as important" I say my piece. That spurt out a small relief.

"Speaking of things that are just as important, I believe Histoire called us here for a reason" Vert reminded. Histoire floated down and hovered above the middle of the table.

"I think all of you girls should know by now. But a certain group have grown significantly" a certain group?

"You mean the citizen's group?" Iffy questioned.

"Yes. Lately, or more specifically, yesterday more and more people have joined" yesterday was the day that I arrived.

"I thought they have 0 members? How did they get such a number?" Vert asked.

"That I do not know, but if they grow still, it would be bad for all four of our nations"

"Hey, Iffy, what are they talking about?" I whisper at Iffy.

"The citizen's group is a just a group that wants a CPU-less nation. They handout fliers and stuff just so someone can join…" so that's why I've been seeing those kinds of people often lately.

"…Thanks"

"…Lately, they're becoming annoying…" Blanc said.

"And they're even throwing out some graffiti in alley's" Noire added.

"…Have they gone violent?" I ask.

"Fortunately, there are no reports. But…"

"…They will eventually" I finish Histy's sentence. Hrm… I guess I have another thing to think about, huh?

"Can't we just force them to stop whatever they are doing?" Noire suggested.

"Want to be reprimanded for disrupting the freedom of speech woman?"

"He's right. We can't just barge in and act all violent without any leverage against them" Vert said.

"…Isn't the pamphlets that they give out enough proof? They're mainly targeting us…" seems Blanc have also noticed the hidden agenda inside those 'informative' pamphlets. Well, she is an avid reader.

"We could… but to their mainly proposals. If we act against them with just that…"

"…we'll lose the support of our people" Histy finishes my sentence.

"Do we have any info on them other than their ever growing numbers? Surely there's a representative behind this"

"Ah, yes. But the representative is a real 'are you okay?' person" Nepgear answered.

"I think I met her... Hrm…" since no one added to that. That's all the info we have, huh?

"…So there are no major movements and I'm guessing that they're still handing out pamphlets at this time, right? For a group, they're not that unified…"

"It sounds like you're thinking of another major plan" Iffy said, a smile from her.

"You noticed? I do have several that I want to try out"

"As expected… let's hear them out"

"Well, one of the things I have in mind… is stalk them"

"…Stalk them?" Vert said.

"Yeah, I don't think that they have a central base of operations. But I do have a feeling that they're having meetings here and there"

"…Basically an inside man" Blanc said.

"Well… I did think of that. But putting an inside man, is a lot riskier. And since the group is still young, they'll notice our man's inconspicuous movements"

"Hmm… so, who's going to be stalker here?" once Noire said that, everyone looks at me. Sigh… great.

"Well, there's no one here that can suggest such a thing"

"…Goodluck"

"If its Jared I know that he can do it!" Vert, Blanc and Compa respectively said.

"Great... now I'm a stalker"

"Isn't this what you wanted? You're a passerby after all. It fits the theme nicely" Iffy said. Well, that is true.

"*Sigh*...Fine, I'll go do some investigation tomorrow morning" I'll read Histy's book while I'm stalking.

"Um… is it safe for him to be doing this alone?" Uni asked. She's been quiet for a while presumably listening on us.

"It's fine. It's him we're talking about" her big sister answered.

"Right… in any case, I can only investigate Planeptune's part. You three will have to do your own digging"

"Right. That's what we intend to do after we got back to our own" Vert said.

"…I'll prepare a cohesive report" Blanc said.

"We'll handle things on our end as well" Noire also said.

"Great. Discussions are closed and let's get some dinner on the way. I'm starving…" I stand up from my chair after I gulp the glass full of tea in one go. It's Gyokuro...

"Good tea, Nepgear…"

"Ah, before I forget. Jared, here's a gift" Iffy gave me a bag.

"Oh, crap… it slipped my mind…" it's the bag that used before. Better more than enough…

"Thanks Iffy" taking the bag off her hands. I felt a very familiar box type of object from where my hand lay. Oh snap it's…

I put the bag on the chair and started rummaging through the familiar clothes that used to wear. Hell, even my socks are here. At the very bottom, burdened with all the clothes above it, is a single small chest that I rarely used before. I take it out and set it on the table.

"Um… you aren't thinking of what I am thinking right?" Iffy asked. Oh yes, woman, I am.

"What's that? A chest?"

"...Not just any ordinary chest Histy. It's a chest full of wonders and mystery and all those crappy stuff"

"Just open it already. It's not like I'm interested though" you always make excuses huh, Noire.

"Alright. Just be sure not to faint this time" I'm going to bet 10 bucks that Noire will faint from this.

I open the chest, a bright golden light appears and with it… the ode to joy.

"_~Freude, schoener Goetterfunken, Tochter aus E~lysium, Wir betreten feuertrunken, Himmlische, dein Hei~ligtum!~"_

Well, I didn't expect it to sing Ode to Joy. At least it's in tune, Beethoven would be proud. Closing the chest, everyone is quiet. Even the air is still…

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"_haa…_"

"Sis!"

"Compa, Noire collapsed again!"

"I'm on it!"

"As expected… I'm going to cook now" I head over to the kitchen.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14:

Stalkers are usually people with an obsession. But in most cases, more often than not, there are more people that stalk because of mental issues. And most victims do not know the people who are stalking them. Of course, knowing that someone is stalking you is a frightening experience. But in some cases, those people that stalk you are either downright insane, obsessed or just need something from you.

"…So I fall to the third category… because I need info…" I whisper to myself as I continue to analyze this certain book.

Inside a fast food chain called "FCK", I eat the last of my fries as I watch a girl handing out pamphlets through the window pane. Of course, for less conspicuous reasons, I also analyze Histy's book for any possibilities to pull Neptune out of other dimension.

My distance between her is a block away. Although her figure may be small due to the distance, and is mostly dyed amongst the crowd, she's still easy to spot. I want to keep a good distance from her not because of her spotting me, but the potential of a bodyguard she may have. If at all, someone is tailing me during my stalking it would affect the Citizen's Group movements. So I take another precaution into memorizing the faces I see, and making quick facial comparisons as I do so.

The girl continues to hand out pamphlets in vain. Even with a smile on her face, the people just come and go without much of an interest in her. Even if some had taken a pamphlet they throw it away and she struggles to get it.

"I made a bad move…" I whisper as I analyze the next letter from the book.

Usually when you're a rookie in some fast food restaurant, we know that you're in some measly position at first. For example, like the mop guy or the toilet guy. And if you apply the same aesthetics in the Citizen's Group, it's quite logical to put the girl into the 'pamphlet girl' position. In this case however…

"I won't see any fruitful events taking place…" closing the book, I head over to the toilet and prepare my change of clothes from my bag.

Usually in a job such as this, I wait around until they have their lunch. It's usually at that time that someone might make contact with them. If not, I'll just stalk around some more until they got home. I could just do that, but Planeptune's security against wrongdoers, such as what I am doing, is tight. They have cameras all over the place, even making out in the alley is hard without studying the cameras' blind spots.

Originally, I was going to stalk the woman and study her actions and interactions on a passerby perspective. You'd see wonders just how much info you can get just from 'looking'. Guess, plans don't always do what you want them to be. After a few short minutes I head outside of the fast food chain and walk towards the girl that I've been stalking.

The streets are packed with majority of them being students. It seems after 8 long years, or presumably so, school life has started up again. It's also the reason why Compa was able to be a nurse now, after 'several tries' in her words.

As my age is ripe, yeah right, I fix the tie of my school uniform which was provided by the lovely Compa. I don't know how she got this uniform and it's the right size to boot. I follow the crowd of students who are heading for their classes.

"Sir! Please accept this informative pamphlet!" the target girl quickly offered me the pamphlet. I take it and pretend to read it.

"What do think of a nation without a CPU? Think about it, we won't be able to put our faith blindly to some leader" the girl started explaining.

"We create a government of our own! We choose the people who we want as the president and his subordinates! We can also vote them out if they prove unworthy!" this woman does not understand that 'individualism' and 'greed of power' happily coincides within people who are in power.

"So that means… if we vote for the right people then we can have CPU-less nation" I said.

"Sounds like you're interested. Yeah, who needs goddesses anyway? When we can have our own nation ruled by humans"

"I'm interested alright. Hook me up"

"Oh really! Great! Come follow me… but wait you're student…"

"It's fine. They won't notice me being tardy for just a day. I'm basically nothing inside the classroom"

"Really? In any case, let's go. We have a meeting today and I'll introduce you to the others"

The girl grabs my wrist and trudges along with me in tow. We enter an alley not too far from where we met. The walls of two buildings are filled with graffiti that are both creative, in an artistic sense, and sinister in terms of message that it portrays. If anything, this is getting more and more ridiculous by the minute. And it's probably because of these that people are getting into this.

The girl stops to a staircase leading downward and sign that points to it that says "GOOD BAR!" with a thumb up. Stealing a glance from the girl, her clothes doesn't indicate that's she's a bar girl or anything. She's well dressed and well covered in all the right places, so why would she bring me here? To get a dick inside her?

But she did grab my wrist as if it was the most natural thing in the world. And she led me here as if she knows where to go. Plus I can smell her perfume even from here. So I can safely assume, that she's working here but not as a prostitute.

Both of us headed down towards a steel door. But what comes from it, heavy bass beating music for example, didn't come. The girl knocked on the steel door and waits patiently. After a few seconds or so, the peep bar slides open and a set of eyes scans who it was.

"We have someone who's interested" the girl said.

"Hmm? A student eh?"

"He's quite a looker too"

"He looks like a dog to me. Let him inside, the meeting hasn't started yet"

The door opened and the girl prompts me to follow her. Inside, there's a catwalk stage with light strips at the edges. At the sides of the catwalk are several people anticipating something from this. It seems that they are at their mid-20's. There's a drinking counter at the very back and it seems no one is interested in the drinks.

"Bag" the bouncer, who had opened the door, held out his hand. He has good upper body build but lacks the lower body.

"Don't worry, we'll give it back to you after" the girl who had escorted me said.

I give my bag and was guided to seat at the very back. Sitting, the girl who escorted to me whispered:

"Have a nice day, ehe…" …playfully into my ear. Great, I won't be surprised if there'll be stripper here about lap dance on me.

"Hey…"

"Hm?"

The guy on right whispered to me, he seems to be a young student as well. He has an innocent greeting smile on his face. If I'm going to make any friends here I better not have any. I'll compromise the whole operation if it does. I'll end this conversation quick and boring.

"Hey man, you come here for the same reason too?" he said.

"And what reason would that be?"

"A nation! A nation without any CPU's!" he exclaimed.

"Yeah..."

"I swear, I would we need a nation led by a CPU? It's those biatches that the world is in jeopardy right now" oh really?

"You see, Lastation is still a steam punk nation without hope of ever improving. The only fucking thing that that nation is good for is rivaling Planeptune. Which is not remotely close!" got to agree with that one, Noire has always been competitive against Neptune. But Lastation is a good nation in its own right. And it takes an outsider to see the hidden merit that it has. Like what I've seen.

"And that Leanbox.. .Pfft! The CPU there is almost practically a shut in! Hell, no one has seen her! It's like she's inside her room being fucked by a gigolo or something" this guy has issues, really bad issues.

"I'm sorry, I must have ranted to an unfamiliar stranger. But you agree with me, right?"

"Yeah, man. I totally do" I force a smile.

"The name is Benjie by the way" he outstretched a hand.

"…A passerby" I take it and gave it a shake. He seemed perplexed by my answer, but was banished when the 'show' started.

I call it a show, but really all it was just a man in his 30's wearing an old suit. He has cue cards in his hand and seems like he's going to advertise to us what a great cleaning product his company has. He takes a look at us as if scanning if the pieces are all set. He gave a nod and…

"Welcome everyone! I'm sorry for the short delay but I had to suffer from a nagging wife every morning" he said for an attempt of joke. Which a few, gave a smile to.

"I'll cut straight to the chase. CPU's are bitches" well, talk about 'cutting straight to the chase'. This guy is more frank than my Asian _fixer_. Even I'm impressed.

"You agree with me right? You know 'The Fall'? My niece died during that time and not even one goddess did a thing to her! What the fuck did we pray for, huh? Adding more bitches to the pile!?" geez, this guy really needs a stripper for his birthday. Or he's going to shout 'bitch, bitch!' every time he fucks his wife.

"All of you have reasons too right? That's why we are here, to make sure that all human beings have fair shot in life! And that our voices are heard!"

"How can we do that!?" A man from the crowd shouted. This brings glee to the host.

"Heh, we gather more people for starters. If we gather more people the faith, in which the CPU's gets their power from, will fade. And once enough power! WE'LL CREATE OUR OWN NATION! A NATION IN WHICH IS BOTH HUMANE AND UNDERSTANDING OF OUR SUFFERING!" he shouted.

So they upped their ante and just create their own nation. At first they made proposals but now their making drastic actions. And going on down the road, I wouldn't be surprised if they waged war against all four nations. A good nation needs a good military after all.

"Rei Ryghts, a person who had founded this group said: 'CPU's should not exist!' Which is fucking true!"

"She had also suffered from the CPU's reprimands! She started out as giving out informative pamphlets but the CPU's came and slapped her wrist! Talk about Freedom of Speech my ass!"

…I think I've seen enough. But I can't get out so easily. The bouncer is guarding the door. If I do something nasty, I'd sprawl attention and infer that I'm an agent from the CPU sids, which is true. So they're going to take extra precaution which would probably make our info gathering a lot harder. Would've been great if I have my gang here, but I'm a guy that's good in working alone.

"…and so, as a celebration… GIRLS!" the host called.

The curtain rises, as the beat of club music is played. A group of half-naked women, wearing nothing but bras and panties, all shown with smiles and with trays full of shot glasses in their hands. The host goes down the stage and seated himself amongst us as the group of show girls hands us our drinks, while seducing the men here with their cleavages and light touches.

"Hey there, pretty boys…" a girl heads over to our row and handed our drinks.

"Um… ah, hi…" my 'friend' here, said awkwardly as he takes a glass.

"Hi to you too…" she answered. The girl head over to me and leans over to my right ear.

"You're cute… wanna make out?" she whispered as she crawls her hand from my shoulder down to my groin. And no, I am not, I repeat not, getting hard on this. But I can use this moment though…

"…Sure… where do wanna do it? In a room or in the street?" as I say, I stop her hand from reaching its target.

"Oooh… hard to get… go outside and I'll show you a good time…"

"You better… I'm very hard to please…"

"I will sugar boy…" she leaves me with a lick on my ear, after I take my drink.

"Whoo… looks like you're getting laid in the middle of the day"

"Not my first"

The others guys have already started gulping down their drinks. And the guys on my row are doing so as well. As a safety precaution, I take a sip and pretend I've gulped down all the contents. After doing so, I throw the rest to the side while I analyze the sip that I took inside my mouth.

'_It's just a cocktail… with…!_'

"*Cough!* *Cough!*…_haa… haa…_" I fake a cough to spit out the sip that I drank.

"Hey, man you good?"

"Y…Yeah… It just caught in my throat…"

It's no mistake that they're using Scopolamine. It's been used so many times to make criminals sing of their crime like it was the national anthem. The under belly of this drug can make the inducer a total mind control shit ass straight out from a cartoon show. Meaning, they're forcing new members to join this fanatic group. And every last members here is basically being mind controlled.

When my senses grow, due to the warning signals inside my head, I noticed that the room temperature have gone cooler, it's only slight though. Looking to where the vents are, I notice a slight smoke coming out of it against the upbeat lights.

'_Crap better get out of here…_' I don't want to join this group of fanatics. They're literally out of their minds. I stand.

"Going already?" the guy beside me said.

"Can't make a girl wait after all…" I walk over to the bouncer.

"For a student, you know how to make a move on a girl huh?" he said as he takes my bag from the side and gave it to me.

"It's not my first to smooth talk a girl…" I wear my bag and the bouncer opens the door for me. The girl is waiting for me outside, wearing just coat over her.

"Get outta here"

"Yeah, yeah…" the door closes behind me once I stepped out.

"Hey there… ready to go?" the girl slipped her arm around mine.

We climb the stairs and resurfaced in the alley. I look to my left and right and see that we're pretty far away from any civilians looking towards this one. And the area where we are at is a good blind spot for any potential cameras. I pull the girl in front of me and pin her to the wall.

"Let's do it here…" I say teasingly…

"Aren't you excited?" she said as she slowly unbutton her coat.

"Day or Night. I'm good with both. I don't care if it's in public" she said as she lightly touches my chest.

"You don't care? How daring…"

"Oh I am…" she slowly works her way to my groin. In which I stop of course.

"…so can you take sleeping in the alley for me?"

"What?"

*CHOP!*

"Uu…"

Chopping her neck, she loses strength and collapses. I catch her and settle her down gently.

"I'm a guy with a girlfriend. Can't have my loyalty be wavered with a few sweet words" although, prostitutes do target men with a relationship or married ones. Also, if you're going to ask, I did not get hard.

"…Well, I'm not type to screw a woman just cause she seduced me. I did promise her after all" and I also don't want to have a rough relationship. It's bad for Neptune and mine's heart.

"…Sleep tight girl" standing, I leave the alley.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15:

"I'm back" I announced as I enter the living/dining/study room. Maybe I should call this the LDS room.

The time would be 3 pm. Despite me leaving the bar at around 11, I have to make several detours. It's a precaution for any unwanted rats following me around. I really shouldn't have worried since I'm well blended amongst the crowd. But since I left the bar a little too early, before the 'magic' happened, I'm taking precautions. Can't say I enjoyed it very much.

"Welcome back, Jared! I made some yummy snack!" Compa greeted like a house-wife as she places the tray full of hot steamy cookies on the table where Iffy and Histy are. Well, she does have house-wife material though.

"Welcome back…*Gulp!* *Gulp!*" Histy greeted as she drinks from a glass that is slightly smaller than her in terms of height.

"Welcome back, how was the trip?" Iffy asked as she takes a cookie.

"Absolutely terrible, I almost got sexually harassed" I remove my bag and take a seat. Compa offered me a drink. I drink it after I say my thanks.

"Really? Well, you do look nice in that school uniform though. No surprise that a girl will harass you"

"Would you harass me Iffy?"

"Hm? If I can…" 'if I can', huh?

"Anyway, Histy, here" I spread open Histy's book. She sits on it, and she floated a few centimeters off the table.

"So did you learn anything?" Histy asked.

"From your book, no, from the Citizen's Group, plenty"

"How much did you learn?" I crossed my arms.

"First off, I actually have to change my tactic from stalking to infiltrating, because I made a mistake stalking this particular member. So onto my report; it seems that all of the members here hate CPU's, in general, with a passion" everyone started being quiet as I say my report.

"Their reasons for hating are just personal, from what I can tell. And they're planning to create a nation of their own. Ruled by humans, and only by humans"

"No CPU's, huh…" Histy mumbled.

"And… here's the river of them all. It seems that to make everyone that joined or even interested to this fanatic group become a member _permanently_. They've succumb themselves in mind controlling drugs"

"Mind control…?" Iffy questioned.

"Sounds fictional, right? Their dosing the guys with Scopolamine, a drug that can make anyone into a puppet, it's a good thing I know the taste or I'll be screwed as well…"

"That's awful…" Compa said.

"It really is…" if she knew what I _did_ before, would Compa gasp like this? I doubt I can disclose that piece of me so easily though. It would however take a lot in me.

"…This is turning a turn for the worst, huh?" Histy said.

"There is one thing I want ask though, but where's Nepgear first?"

"She's in her room" Iffy answered.

"Mumbling again?"

"Sleeping. She's working to keep herself from thinking about Nep"

"*Sigh*…" I facepalm. Geez, that girl is a handful, more so than her overly cheerful big sister.

"In any case, I want to ask… This Rei Ryghts person is the leader or founder, right? Was she actually slapped at the wrist?"

"She is. But I don't think she was 'slapped'… Nep and Gear didn't aren't the types to do that" Iffy answered.

"True. So they only just told her off but never actually warned her…" a slap on the wrist is usually a warning. Meaning, they exaggerated it.

"Isn't this enough proof that we can make our own movements? They are using drugs after all" Histy said.

"We can. If we know where they are"

"Didn't you infiltrate them?" Iffy asked.

"I did. I only attended a meeting at a bar to get what I needed actually"

"A bar?" Compa cocks her head quizzically.

"Yeah, a bar. Any who…" I'm not going to say that a prostitute tried her luck with me.

"…when I approached the bar, I didn't hear any music of the sorts at the very beginning. And the meeting was kinda strange as well. All the guys that attended are in a classroom like state just concentrating on the stage. Plus, no one paid attention to the liquors. Coming off as strange huh?"

"What's strange about it?" Compa asked innocently.

"Usually in a bar, you'd pretty much here bass music being played or dub steps while you're outside. I let it off since their having a meeting and all. But the strangest part is not having _any_ interest in the long drinking counter filled with liquor. Plus the fact that everyone in there is like they're in school, which brings me the conclusion that they _rented_ the place rather than they're base of operations"

"Wait… why would they need to have an interest in the liquor?" Iffy asked.

"If those meetings occur frequently there, even you need to gulp down some cocktail right? And they're going to play some music before the meeting starts, if they are that frequent"

"I see…"

"So we cannot stop them and they are occurring meetings just from anywhere… *Sigh*..." Histy sighed.

"…Relax Histy, we can still get them…"

"But how…?"

"Martial Law" I promptly answer with a slight grin on my face.

"…You're kidding right?" Iffy asked, dumbfounded.

"I am" I actually pulled that one off my ass.

"…Well, I do have a course of action but I won't be disclosing it"

"Why?" Histy asked.

"I need to make the cards fall. From there, we'll do something about it"

"Step-by-step, eh…? Wouldn't that make it harder?" Iffy asked.

"I know. But if we make our move now, we're going to lose this one in the long run. We'll be on the defensive here for now"

Well, the truth of the matter is. I just want to see where this one is going. Human beings are greedy, selfish creatures after all. And if you put those kinds of people in power, I'd bet my black cards that they won't like what they did to themselves. Of course, they're going to be stubborn about this. But if you give them an inch of coming back to their respective nations, they'll go for it with no hesitation.

"This is going to affect Planeptune's shares even more…" Histy said.

"Haha… just trust me on this one. I know what I am doing" I pet Histy's doll-like head.

"Okay… Let's end this debriefing. Now, I'll have myself a coo-! Darn, it's gone cold" our long conversation made the hot steamy cookies go cold. How sad…

"Don't worry, I'll heat it up for you!" Compa takes the tray full of cookies and totters off into the kitchen.

"The girl has certainly grown lovely, huh…" I've got to admit, it is certainly cute. Every man would probably fall left and right for her.

* * *

"You two should be on your toes. If anything happens, just give a call"

"Okay… Bye Jared"

"Bye-Bye"

Giving both of them a pet in the head, they headed into the elevator and headed down to the ground floor. I walk back to the living room where Histy is settled comfortably by the sofa. She certainly has a lot on her mind. Well, as an Oracle of Planeptune I can understand her disposition.

I sit beside her with light 'thump' from the sofa, and lean by back backwards to the back rest. I stare at the ceiling above as my tense body starts to loosen up. I think I'm about to go to sleep…

"…*Sigh*… First, it's Neptune, now this… I won't be surprised if another problem comes into our lap" Histy said. It's good to whine every now and then, it keeps the stress at check.

"…I know. It kinda feels like we're being played at" played, huh…?

"And you're helping us again. How I wish, that you would be Planeptune's CPU"

"I'm not fit to rule a nation. Neptune and Nepgear would get mad at me"

"...But we won't be facing a problem like this if the two took their job seriously…"

"That is true …*Yaaaawwwnnn*…"

"…Sleepy?"

"Yeah… keeping a low profile is tiring. Plus I haven't had much sleep last night; I was reading your book after all"

"…I'll wake you up when its dinner time…"

"Thanks…"

I dozed the afternoon off.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16:

I've always been an avid reader. Not that it's not too obvious, but the reason that I call myself an egotistical genius all the time are just the merits of constant study. Of course, I don't just read technical books, I read almost any kind of novel that I find interesting. The world has just a vast majority of these interesting books to read. And I never miss a chance to read them. And that's probably why I'm able to advise people like some sort of sage about humanities and such.

"Time for a break then…" closing Histy's book, I lean back on my chair by the study table, close my eyes and massage my temples.

It's the next day and the afternoon is as boring as ever with nothing but uneventful happenings. Of course, we can always say that it's peaceful. But I can't bring myself to say it because of two things that we need to resolve.

I've been reading Histy's book after we had our breakfast. Histy is reading something from her miniature holographic computer. Nepgear is in the study table opposite of me doing her work as a CPU candidate. She's a diligent one I'll give her that, but if you give her a break, she'll start mumbling to herself again. Of course, I can't pry too much in her lifestyle. If anything, I'm basically just some random person claiming to be her sister's boyfriend to her, despite Histy and the others know me as more than that. Of course that doesn't mean that I won't help her be on her own two feet.

*Ding*… *Ding*…

Everyone perked up at the sound of the doorbell.

"We have a visitor, it seems" I stand up first and walk towards the entrance. I push the button opening the futuristic doors revealing a woman in a black one piece dress. It's Uni.

"Um… Ah, Good morning" she greeted. She was probably shocked to see that it wasn't Nepgear that opened.

"It's the afternoon already" I corrected her.

"Anyway, come in… Nepgear is by the LSD"

"LSD?" she cocked her head in question.

"Living, study, dining room" I promptly answer as she followed me to the room.

"Uni, hello" Nepgear greeted with a grin.

"Hello… and to Histoire as well"

"Good afternoon as well Uni"

"Um… I came here to bring these…" Uni brings out an envelope. I take it and have a peek inside. It seems to be about the Citizen's Group.

"What is it about Jared?" Histy asked.

"It's about the Citizen's Group… hold on…" I take the bunch of papers off the envelope and make a quick scan over the report. Oh my, this is not good…

"Hey Uni… are there any specific factories where they held frequently?" I ask my concern.

"No… it seems that the group is only renting the place just to meet"

"Are there any weird behavior of the group that attends these meetings?"

"Um… no"

"Figured as much…"

"So they're doing the same huh?" said Histy.

"Yeah… but the flipside on Lastation's side is that the group of people that attends these is just entirely convinced…" maybe because Lastation is still a country that looks like from the Industrial revolution despite its technological competency.

So in Planeptune, they're using drugs for permanent membership. And for Lastiation are just a few honeyed words. The methods are different but the outcome is the same. Are they doing this as their alibi if somehow we raided one of their meetings?

"Hrm... " I can't really make of this...

"Anyway, thanks for this Uni. Great help" I give Uni a gratifying smile.

"Um… okay…" Uni said awkwardly and gave me a noticeable stare.

"…What? Something on my face?"

"…No, actually I wanted to ask. When we were having that meeting, why does everyone trust you?" oh yeah, we kinda left Uni out of the conversation.

"Um… I wanted to ask that same question too, even though I heard the stories…" Nepgear added.

"One word… Charisma… and a bit of charm…" actually that's 6. But the two floated a question mark above their heads.

"In other words, just observe him…" the two turned to Histy, who was still reading something from her holographic computer. Somehow seemed convinced Uni didn't ask anymore and said:

"…Well, I'm done here. Time to go home"

"Ah, wait. I want to come with you" Nepgear stands.

"Y-you do? W-well, I-I'm fine by myself. So you don't need to come" Uni blushed.

"Um… I insist really. I just want to come with you…"

"I-If you want to... I-I'm not stopping you, not like I want you to come…"

"Mhm, well then… Bye Jared, Histoire"

"Bye" Histy and I chorused as the Nepgear follows Uni to the elevator.

"*Sigh*…Siblings will always be siblings eh?" you would wonder who Uni takes from.

"…It feels like I'm dealing with a younger version of Noire, although she is much friendlier…" I mumble to myself as I put the papers onto the desk.

"∑(O_O；)"

"Hm?" when I look at Histy, she seemed to be shocked at something. Or probably just got blue screened. That would be funny.

"…Hey, what's with the emoticon?" I ask.

"Um… Jared…"

* * *

"*Sigh*…" I facepalm. One facepalm may not be enough anymore. The next time, I'm going to use the wall and plant my face on it. That would be good art.

"…Before I ask, let me first say that this place looks like I'm in a sci-fi movie…"

Histy and I are in the what they call, the Share room. Located at the end of the hall on the second floor. It's a single dark room with a crystal in the middle of it all. The crystal's shape looks like a power symbol, the circle with a line on it, and is floating and rotating on its axis at around 4 feet above the ground. It's also glowing, which would probably amount to how many shares Planeptune has. Around us are some rings of binary codes, hexagons, programming languages and some strings of numbers all rotating around us or rather the Share Crystal itself. It does give off a futuristic feel, in a way.

"…This is one impressive room, Histy… And onto the reason of my facepalm…" I heave a sigh once more.

"…Why does anyone not read the manual?" It doesn't hurt to read it. My gawd, people are just so lazy to read nowadays. I'm no exception to that, but I at least give it a quick read.

"I think that would be my own foolishness…"

"*Sigh*… What's done is done… let's just move on. So, what? You're going to call Neptune now?"

"Yes, I'll inform her of this functionality"

"Right…" I really want to talk to her but…

"…You don't want her to know that you're back?"

"Yeah… It might seem cruel of me. But if ever I want to announce it, I want it physically face- to- face with her"

"I think that would make her cry tears of joy…"

"We're both going to cry if we talk with each other right now. Plus, I take that calling from another dimension takes a lot from you right?" we might also talk longer than we have to, so I'm concerned about her endurance.

"It is tiring" see? I'm such a nice a person.

"Yeah… So I'll just stand back…"

"Mhm…"

I head to the corner of the room where I probably won't be seen. Of course, if I do get seen, then there's nothing I can do. I do wonder how she looks like right about now, probably won't be that much. She doesn't age after all. Histy pops open a holographic screen, judging from the size it's probably 43 inches diagonally. That fairy can be so considerate…

On the screen it displays "Connecting…". It takes a while until I hear a ringing sound of a phone.

*RIIIIIING!* *RIIIIIING!* *RIIIIIING!*

Okay, this is comical. I just want to ask but the display changed to "Connected" and with it a girl appears…

She has short lilac hair with bangs that reach down to her collar bone and purple eyes. In her hair she wears white hair-clips in the shape of D-pads. She has a downed expression on her face as if she was just scolded by someone. Of course, that in itself is also cute.

The urge to just run to the screen and shout at her quickly rises. It takes a lot in me to hold it in. I actually really do, but it's not the time and place…

"I am sorry to have kept you waiting, Neptune" Histy spoke.

"_This is way beyond that point! How many years do you think it's been since you called?_" even her voice pushes me to limits.

"I… I apologize, but three days is less than a year. You should know this by now"

"_Don't patronize me! I know that 3 days is 72 hours, is 4,320 minutes, is 259, 200 seconds!_" when did she get good in math? I'll probably ask her how to derive the Standard Model.

"_Wait. Three days?_"

"Yes. We… I mean, _I_ ran an intense index search for three days have just now discovered…"

"_Hey, uh, Plutie… Did I get here three days ago?_" from off screen, Neptune asked someone.

"_Ummm… Three days…? I think it's been like a week or something…?_" a slow tempo of a girl's voice responded.

"_I apologize for interrupting._ (;°□°)" from another holographic screen popped up and…

'_A mini Histy?_' I can't see very well, since the screen that popped up is small but I can see that it really is a mini Histy.

"_Based on my data, Neptune first arrived here three years ago to date. _(-_-;;)" and she's using emoticons too!

"Three years!? What is going on? Could the flow of time differ between our dimensions?"

"_Perhaps. There is no proof that is the case, exactly. _(;^ω^)"

"I see. Conventional rules do not apply acro… Hm?" another holographic screen popped up in it seems that displays a message of sorts.

"Um… 'Correction: It's called Time Dilation. In special relativity, time moves slower as the body moves faster. In other words this is a phenomenon in which the speed relative to the distance towards that other dimension is Undefined. Meaning we are the dilated time as they are the compressed time...PS: There's also what we call Gravitational Time Dilation in which time increases as we go further from the source of gravity. PS: PS: Of course, I might be wrong so try calculating how much dark energy that dimension has. It might also have to do with it'" Histy reads off the message.

"…"

"…"

"…"

Hey, I tried my best to make a quick calculation about it and I get rewarded by a silence? Well it is generally my fault for cutting into the conversation and that I'm understandably in fighting myself from literally cutting into it. But seriously, can't I even have an ovation?

*BRRRR!* *BRRRR!*

I check my phone and see that I have received a message from Histy.

'_Seriously?_'

'_I'll be a good boy and shut up…_' I replied.

"Well… um where are we again? Ah right, about difference time" Histy asked.

"_This may prove fortunate. If it were the other way around, that would be a problem._( ･ω･ )_"_

"Indeed. If time passed faster here, Neptune would be akin to Rip Van Winkle upon her return" if time moved faster here, we're moving beyond the traveling distance in terms of speed would be beyond that of light.

"_Hey, less Histy-on-Histy action! I gotta get my lines in, too!_" Neptune complained.

"To be blunt, it appears that for every year that passes by there, one day passes over here" obviously.

"In other words, if you remain there for 100 years, a mere 100 days would pass over here" again, obviously.

"_Huh? Does that account for leap years? So 24 hours is…Whatever, I get it! Yep!_" 1 day there is equals to 3.96 minutes here.

"_I don't get the math at all… Neppy… you're sooooo smart…_" the girl off screen praised. And also it's just ratio and proportion.

"Do not try and make it sound as if you thought hard about it and understand when you do not" hey, at least she knows how many hours, minutes and seconds three days has.

"All this should mean to you is that you do not need to worry about the passage of time"

"_Mhm, that sounds pretty darn convenient for me, but okay!_"

"Let us return to the main issue. In order to have Neptune return to us, we…"

"_Oh, plot advancement!_ _Plutie, grab a crayon, 'cuz we gotta cray this stuff on some paper!_"

"_Ummm… I'll get my pencil…_"

"Work hard and increase Planeptune's shares"

"_Oh, them's the basics. Anything else?_"

"That is all"

"_What? That's a pretty simple-pimple command to pop… Um…?_"

"That… is it"

"…"

"_Neppy, it has a lot of bite marks, but here you go!_" for no sudden reason, a pencil is poking her cheek.

"_Eeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhh…!?_" what a shocker.

"D-Do not act so disappointed when that should be good news!"

"_Well, I figured we'd reveal the main story arc or talk about the hidden lore…!_" isn't that a good thing? It keeps the excitement at the ready…

"_Hey, hey, Neppy…! My pencil, here…! Take it, take it, take it…!_" the pencil is still poking her.

"_U-Um, is that really all she needs to do? Even I would prefer more detail… _(￣□￣;)" mini-Histy asked.

"I understand. It seems that I… No, _we…_"

"We possess a function that allows us to transcend dimensions" a function in which you only recently discovered.

"_Really? This is the first I have ever heard of such a functionality!_ (；゜Д゜)" great, even mini-Histy doesn't know.

"It was located in the user's manual on page 141, 006 and I foolishly skimmed over it before"

"_I had no idea. I will peruse the manual in great detail later_"

"But to use this function, we require the cooperation of our partners. The CPU's" you know, that functionality would have really helped the both us if you haven't skimmed over it.

"By increasing our CPUs' shares, we can open a doorway that allows one to cross dimensions" yeah... it would've avoid me creating a black hole.

"_Sure, why not! That's how it is, so that's how it's gonna be! I just gotta work hard, right?_"

"_Wow, you got sooooo energetic all of a sudden…_" the girl off screen commented.

"Oh, I can hardly believe my ears. It sounds as though you really will try your best"

"_No reason to get all angsty! Sometimes the best plots are simple and light-hearted!_" that I will agree on.

"_Just you watch, Twin Histy's. Twistys! I'm a pro at share gathering, so this'll be a snap!_"

"That would be helpful. On our end, that Citizen's Rights Group has suddenly grown too much"

"We, and the other CPU's, are trying our best to come up with a counter, but it seems it's getting more dire" more drastic. It's becoming more drastic and more stupid.

"_Oh yeah? They're such slackers. I guess the one with a one and only partner plus all the secret admirers, me, needs to get back!_" ohoho… secret admirers eh? I wonder how many will I hunt down?

"Pardon? If you are referring to the one with the most followers that would be Noire"

"_Uh-huh. I knew I was the best without anyone saying it, but if you forget that Noire's…_"

"_WHAT DID YOU SAY!?_" Pfft haha! Her face is so priceless!

"We ran a poll recently asking the world who they followed, and Noire won by a wide margin"

"_Haa? Why? How? But, I'm the totally adorable main character, right? The lead, right? Why'd I lose…?_"

"I… I do not know what to tell you"

"Perhaps because you are a little hard to understand sometimes, the people were divided" haha, don't worry Neptune at least we're still here.

"_Blah! Stop! Don't make such specific comments about my personality!_"

"Our time is almost up. When I have everything prepared, I will contact you… Oh wait…!"

"_What? Are you going to tell me that I'm number two? Please tell me I'm the first loser!_"

"Not that… when you get back, we have a _surprise _waiting for you… (^_^)"

Histy cuts the communication off before we could anymore. She sighed a bit, releasing her stress. So it really does take a lot in her. I come out of my corner and walk towards her.

"Well this is going swell"

"It is… by tonight. She'll be able to come back, and we might see a tearful reunion"

"That's a given…" even I can't help it.

"…The waiting game is about over, huh…"


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17:

Portals aren't really restricted to exiting your room and expect to be in Mars or in Saturn. In definition, portals are an entryway to different places, into new things and experiences. When we were a kid in the playground we often play a role playing games such as knights and princesses for example. It's called the Magic Circle, in which we accept certain truths and rules in different places or situations, Such as classes in classrooms, or playing basketball in a court.

But there are also portals to argue about, such as music, movies, games, books and even the internet. And because of these we are spending more time in virtual reality. We fill our imagination to bursting from what we see in such portals, creating it so that it became another truth; another portal.

We are all inside a portal, and in this portal where are always in a magic circle in which we accept as truth. And it isn't until we step out of this, that we will discover that there are other truths. See other portals that we have not gone through; getting the full picture.

"Stepping out huh?"

I've been typing frantically on the holographic keyboard a bunch of proprietary codes and equations for a little while now under Histy's firm instructions. On the top of my head, she's been concentrating on something as if seeking for inner peace. I'll seriously put her under the faucet the next time I see her like that.

"Well… I can finally have a little breathing room after this" I mumble to myself...

After a good hour, Histy and I have noticed that the Share crystal, have grown significantly brighter than before. With that as a sign we have started working our butts off. Of course, all the heavy stuff, which is coding and solving, is all on me.

"…Hmmm… Okay, connection complete…" Histy announced.

"How is it going down there Jared?"

"…Nothing that I haven't done before I got here…" I answer her as I debug my code. Shit, I forgot to delegate this…

"That looks really efficient. I wonder if it would work…"

"I'll try to run in it in console mode..."

Pressing function 5 a new holographic black screen appeared. The first line it says 'Clear' and after a few is another, and then another, and then another. We wait a few until the console application closes itself. When it does, she breathes a sigh of relief.

"…I think we can start with our real work now, right?"

"Yeah…" I change a few codes and make one big scan for an overall evaluation. This would do good, I guess. I am acting out on Histy's instructions after all, or rather her functionality. I really don't know what this program will do after I pressed function 5.

"...Now then…" Histy flies away from the top of my head.

"…Please mind the power; the moment I run the program we might face power shortage as for our deduction. I'll keep an open line on your phone"

"Alright. So the control room is my destination, right?"

"Yes. It's only a floor below. We don't particularly use it when we need to though…"

"Like for emergencies, for example"

"The like"

With a shrug from me, I open the phone and call Histy. She accepts it immediately opening the line to what is happening. I give her a nod and I head down to the hallway then made my exit. I enter the elevator and bring it down a floor.

When it opened, I'm met with hallway lighted by LED's by the corners. It's a single hallway leading to another futuristic door. I walk, making audible noises as I do. Before, I even have the time to enjoy my little childish side the door opened the moment I got in front of it.

Inside is a room with a single terminal inside. I say terminal but it's merely just a glass table with a chair in front of it. The rest of the room is all black. Sitting on the chair, I put my open on the table, awaiting orders. And I thought it was a like a security room, only with more features.

"_Jared… Put your palm on the table_"

"It's not going to eat me right?"

"_I promise that it won't_"

I put my palm on the table. When I do so, the table lit up in light lilac and a virtual keyboard appeared on the table. So it's a display, huh? Around me, are holographic screens popping out one by one, lighting the room as it does. All of them displaying various information such as water sewage flow, shares flow, economy charts, city transports, stock exchange some real time camera footage. It kinda feels like I'm much closer to my own rig back in my apartment.

-Of course, I don't have this many screens.

"_The rest of the table can act as a touch pad_"

"Thanks for the info Histy" I play with the touchpad for a while, feeling my way as I memorize the functions.

"I think I got it… well, for the most part" I have absolutely no idea what in gawds name I am doing. Seriously. This is way too futuristic. I really need to visit this control room every so often to get to know it better.

"_Can you pull up the electricity grid?_"

"I hope…"

I run my finger on the table and quickly pull up the power screen. It shows the whole schematics of the city itself. Showing the flow of the electricity, the voltage distributed and even the usage watts of each households. Of course, Planeptune's electricity comes from solar panels. But it's a good thing to keep all of them monitored.

"Right now… we're using 500,000,000 watts in Planeptune Tower"

"_It's going to go up some more… But I'm afraid we might activate the tower's breakers_"

"Alright… I'll monitor the power from here. Can I shut off a few things if I need to?"

"_Please do… I'm going starting up the call…_"

"Roger"

Through my phone, I hear the ringing from earlier. Judging from this, it might already be 2 months now since we last talked to them. I do hope that Neptune's alright. Well, the girl is a tougher than a Leopard 2A7 tank, but you can't help but worry, right?

"_Ah, yes?_" I heard the sound of mini-Histy. There's no emoticon since I can't see her.

"_Um, it's me. Wait, why can't I see you?_"

"_Well… I still haven't recovered from our last call so I can only answer with my voice_" so we're using voice call now. Such a downgrade.

"_I apologize for that. But please put Neptune and you outside_"

"_Why? Is it…?_"

"_Yes it is, we're ready to take Neptune home…_"

"_WAIT JUST ONE MOMENT!_"

"_Ah, she puts me on hold…_"

"She's shocked. You can say that she wasn't expecting it to be so soon"

"_Well, our time is dilated after all_"

"True. Anyway, why can't you make a three way call through here? We are in the same building after all"

"_I can't unfortunately. Accessing through that terminal requires only physical touch. You wouldn't want some hacker mess around with the power now right?_"

"True. And no camera in the Share room? That's a little bit odd"

"_Neptune requested not to have one… Ah, wait I'm back on call_"

"_Alright. I have done as instructed and have come outside to the courtyard_" I heard mini-Histy's voice through a call, through a call.

"_Thank you. Now please put me on speaker so I can talk to Neptune_"

"_Understood. I will put you on speaker_"

"_Oh! Neptune, can you hear me?_"

"_Uh, yeah. I hear you_" hm? Neptune's voice has a conflicted tone. Crap… the urge to call out to her name is quickly rising.

"_I apologize for the delay_" nice joke Histy.

"_We have discovered a way for us to bring you back home_" we, huh? Guess she wants to see the reunion as well.

"_And it is all because you worked very hard in that world_"

"_I do try, y'know…_"

"_I will open the pathway right now, so please…_"

"_H-Hey, Histy!_"

"_Yes? What is it?_"

"_Can I stay just a bit longer? It won't be for _too_ long!_" Ha?

"_Hmm?_"

"_Neppy…_" I heard a girl's sluggish tempo. Oh, I get it…

"_I still got stuff to do over here! If I abandon my gal pals, I'm a crummy main character!_" you really can't stand separation again, huh?

"_You still got Nepgear and the rest on your side, so even if I don't come back yet…_"

"_But your shares are plummeting each and every day you remain away. And h-!_" Histy stopped herself from saying "he".

"_If you miss this chance, I cannot guarantee that there will be another one_"

"_Oh. Really? But… uh…_"

"_Neppy… I'm sorry for trying to keep you all to myself… It's okay, really…_" the sluggish tempo of a girl's voice said.

"_Naw, don't apologize and stuff. No need for that business_"

"_But you have your own world, and your people are waiting for you there…_" haha, that's true girl.

"_I'll be sad I can't play with you, but I'll manage… *sniff* *Sniff*_"

"_D-Don't cry…_"

"_Why're you pouting? This is a good thing. I feel refreshed since the noisy one is leaving_" wait… is this Noire's? So that's why in Histy's flashback there's a catalog there for "Someone that looks like Noire".

"_I mean, I guess I might be just a tiny bit sad because it'll be so quiet without you…_" even in that dimension of a Noire. She's still dishonest.

"_Aww, Noire…_"

"…_I don't care for excessive noise pollution, but I don't dislike you_" and I can hear Blanc's voice. Well, well. One theory is getting its debut huh?

"_Our time together was short, but it was enjoyable_" how short? An hour?

"_Blanc, too…!_"

"_Aw, man… If you all say this stuff, I might get teary-eyed…_"

"_Waaaaaaaaaaah! Neppy!_" the sluggish girly voice started crying.

"_Waaah! Plutie! Everyone!_" Neptune started crying.

-So, by process of elimination, that sluggish girly voice belongs to a girl name Plutie. I'm going to bet that it's one of Neptune's nicknames. I just want to get that out of the way.

"_Stop that this instant! You're both unbearable to watch. I'm a sympathetic crier, you know!_" can't you just cry Noire II without making an excuse?

"…*_sniff_*" Blanc II is about to cry as well? Crap I want to see that!

"_Neptune, I understand how you are feeling, but please hurry_" Histy said.

"_Roger, dodger. *sniff* See ya later, ladies…_"

"_Neppy… Thank you for everything…_"

"…_Stay safe over there_"

"_Good-bye_"

"_Yeah, yeah…_"

"_I will open the path now. When I do, Neptune, please enter it_" guess it's my cue…

I look at the screen and the watts usage is getting ridiculously high. Staring at the number won't help as it's about to reach for the breakers. I quickly type in a set of commands on one hand and pull up every security feed on this freaking tower with the other. Shit there's a lot. I cut the power from areas that have hardly any significance but it's still rising.

"Sorry HR guys, got to do it…" I mumble an apology as I cut the power from the 32nd to the 34th floor. And it's still rising. I cut some more power and redirect it towards the Share room. Now we have stability… if not by a small margin…

"_So when I walk down this path, it's like turning my backside to Plutie and them…_" where did you pull that off Neptune?

"_No, it's a temporary thing. We'll totally meet again! ...Like with him, right?_" haha... like with me, alright.

"_Histoire! Is Sis really coming back to us!?_"

"Hm?... Shit!" the watts rise significantly. And the mark is getting closer too. I cut all power from the lobby to the to the 31st floor. Even that is not enough.

"_No, Nepgear, do not disturb this very sensitive process! I need to concentrate!_"

"_Hey, what's this light? Is she coming back through this?_"

"_Please stop, I said!_"

"Whatever she…Crap!" I was about to say something when the mark is getting so close as well. I'm cutting every power up until our floors. But I can't slow it down. Shit.

"_Huh? Histy, what's the deal? Sounds like a ruckus!_"

"_Th-There is a slight problem. Geez, we even tried to make this quick too…_"

'_Slight problem my ass!_'my fingers are literally flying everywhere, trying to hold the power down as much as I can.

"_Sis! Can you hear me!?_" I don't usually curse people out of frustration. But when I do, it's because they're ruining a good chance. Dammit Nepgear!

"_This voice… Nepgear!_"

"_I don't see her. Where is she!?_"

"_I asked you to stop… No! It is dangerous to get that close!_"

"…!" I can't even speak. I've already cut almost all of Planeptune's power except for two rooms. And I'm using one of the backup generators to power the Share room too boot. But it's plowing it's way through the mark. How much energy does that portal needs!?

"_Huh? Uh-oh! I think I'm getting pulled in! EEEEEEEEEEEH!_"

"_Nepgear!? Nepgear!_"

"FUCKING DAMMIT!"

We hit the mark.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18:

…

…

…

"_haa, haa… _Aw shit, my fingers hurt…" I massage my numb fingers.

We just lost power. Dammit, Nepgear just have to ruin huh? I can't blame her too much into this. But majority of it is all her fault, despite her situation being understandable. That's the problem with her, she just can't get herself be independent for once. Even if you say to yourself that you managed to beat an evil syndicate by yourself, and even save your sister, you just used your 'obsession' as an excuse to move yourself forward; which is wrong in so many ways.

"*Sigh*… No use complaining… Hm?" the emergency power went on. Everything is in a shade of red. I take my phone and point the mic at my mouth.

"Histy, you good?" I ask.

"_Uuugh… my head…_" seems she is.

"I'll come to you… Can I use the elevator despite the emergency power?"

"_You can…_"

Taking my phone, I head out to of the control room. The single hallway is shaded in its emergency red lights. I walk with audible footsteps, leaving my frustration as I go. I enter the elevator and bring it up a level. When it brings into a stop, I make my way through the front door.

Everything is in a shade of red. Despite the large window wall by the living room, providing us all the light we need in here, it's still clear to see. I climb towards the second floor and make my way to the Share room which is located at the far side. Of course, the second floor is shaded in red as well.

"_haa… haa…_"

"You good?"

I pick up Histy off the ground and place her on my lap. She's only tired and getting her breath back. She's sweating so much, in which I wipe it gently with my clothes.

"…I think I am…" she starts to wobbly hover herself.

"…You sure? You can just rest for now…"

"I'm sure. But first, how are we going to get Neptune out of there?" I guess she wants to get this done fast. Or maybe she feels sorry for me.

"Creating another one is impossible?"

"It's not. We can still make one, but it's not precise…"

"Precise?"

"I can make one more portal towards there, but…"

"You don't know where it will pop up huh?"

"Yes. The only reason for that is that I can't contact the other me"

"Hrm…"

So it's like in telephones where you only know the area number but don't know the specific household number. And we can't establish another connection after an hour again. Since it's clearly said, that mini-Histy has not recovered fully from their last call. When my eyes fall on the Share Crystal, its dimmer than it ever was; a reflection of how few shares we have left.

"...More waiting huh? Truth be told I'm about to get sick and tired of it" I have grown the patience of waiting. But I have my own limits despite it.

"...Then… what do you want to do, Jared?" Histy asked. Knowing what my answer is…

* * *

"_Jared… Um… are you sure this is going to work?_"

"Believe me, there was this time that I have to hack a supercomputer while an avalanche is coming towards me. It's all the same…"

"_But this is different, with a slight miscalculation we can't open another one… and you might pop-up somewhere…_"

"Trust me, I studied my way to calculate how to make a spinning black hole, jump in it, and expect with full confidence that I'd return here"

"_If you say so… Alright, I'm starting up the program…_"

The moment she finished her sentence, I see that our power usage is rising once more. Planeptune is still not receiving any main power. So what I did was, cause a nationwide blackout, and reroute everything towards here. Of course, I don't have the consent of the people but this is me we're talking about here.

I can't say for sure if the power I'm receiving is enough, even though it's quite high. And the power to stabilize that portal is ridiculous. Plus Histy needs to concentrate and use all of our remaining Shares to stabilize it even more.

"_Jared… it's time…!_" but there is a slight thing that I have to worry about.

-Shares.

Due to the fact that we only have limited source of Shares, once that all our shares is gone to the very last one, the portal would start to look for more energy. And where can he get more? From the power, of course. It would plow its way, leeching every power it needs until it stabilizes. But once we hit the breakers the portal would almost instantly close.

-Meaning, I only have a short window to jump in it.

"…!" I run through the small corridor as fast as my legs could take me. I reached the open the elevator and it quickly rises. Once it opens I make my way through the front door, climb towards the second floor and run like hell to the open Share room. I pick up a bag and trench coat, with grace of course, that is sitting pre-readied at the corridor.

I run like mad, towards a beam of light that I know will take me to her. I don't care if I pop out in the middle of the sea, I'll just swim. I don't care if I pop out in the middle of a monster's nest, I'll take care of them. I don't care if I jump there and something I pray that shouldn't happen, happens, I'll cheat on 'the world' one more time.

"HURRY!" Histy shouts.

"…!" I kick the floor behind me, and recklessly abandon all my self towards the beam of light.

-Towards a dream that I know will come true.

"HALLELUJAH!" I jump.

*SQZ!*

*SQZZZZZZ!*

*SQZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!*

*SQZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!*

97.047581925

* * *

" 'YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!' "

*CLASH!*

" 'SIS!' "

*CLASH!*

Neptune, in her transformed mode, blocks a punch from CopyPaste. But as she does so, she left her back wide open for Arfoire to thrust her javelin at her. Nepgear thinks fast and covered her back.

" 'Thanks, Nepgear' "

" 'Mhm!' "

" 'Hey, don't play around with other women when I'm here… or is it that you want to have more than one person to do you?' " Plutia's, in her HDD, sadistically said as she lashes out her sword-whip at Arfoire.

"Tch!" Arfoire flies away but was immediately stopped by a CPU from above.

" 'I'LL FINISH YOU OFF BITCH!' "

Blanc, in her HDD, brings her axe down from above. Arfoire readies for a block.

*CLASH!*

*SCHNNNNNNNNG!*

The moment the axe made contact, she tilts the javelin to the ground, sliding the axe towards the ground as well as Blanc. The sisters made way...

*BAM!*

" 'Dammit, is it just me or have they become so agile?' "

" 'Whatever. We'll just attack attack them until they can't move anymore…!' " Noire, HDD, charges at CopyPaste.

" 'Oh my, is that a declaration of being a dominant woman Noirey?' " Plutia said as she also charges in.

"Oh! Two against one is not fair! But this is a battle so we have to stay strong, right my buddy pal!?"

"SHUT UP YOU GENERATE ROBOT!"

" 'I don't think you should worry about his blabbering mouth' "

"Tch!" Arfoire blocked a thrust attack from Vert, HDD.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!*

"I'm sorry fare ladies, but I can't play with two girls at the same time!" CopyPaste extends both of his hands and blocked both Plutia's and Noire's attacks.

"Hey fool! Release it already!"

"Ooh, can I? Thank you so much for this wonderful oppurtinity my gal!"

"I AM NOT YOUR GAL!" Arfoire shouted as she continues to block Vert's attack.

CopyPaste body had changed after that exhange. Its whole body is filled with holes, holes that indicate something bad. The rest of the girls all jumped back expecting something from it. Of course, that something came when Arfoire smirked.

*PEEEEEEEEEEWWWW!*

From the holes small missiles comes out, it was uncountable. All of them homes in on girls. They all ready their weapons. When the missiles got close to each of them, they cut it to a hundred pieces.

*SLICE* *SLICE* *SLICE* *SLICE* *SLICE*

They cringed as it was filled not with explosives but with gas; black gas to be exact. Everyone covered their mouths and narrows their eyes. The gas was thick, so thick that couldn't see two inches in front of you.

"I got you now!"

" 'Aaah!' "

" 'Nepgear!...!' "

When Neptune turned to look where her sister was through the smoke, all of her senses started to throw warning signals. When she looked, and what she sees is a giant fist robotic coming fist coming straight at her face. She can't get out of this one…

"~_Everyb~ody~..._~"

It was almost an instant. But when her senses pulled came back for her, she was covered with something. It was warm…

"~_Rock your b~ody_~"

"Hm? Who is this new challenger?"

"~_Everyb~ody_~"

The smoke clears, and Neptune looks at something in front of her. No, it was someone. She sees a familiar back… it was so familiar that she wouldn't miss it for the world. And the voice, the diction, and even how he's signing voice makes her jump skip a beat. Making her yearn for him…

"~_Rock your b~ody right _~"

"Ja…!"

"~_Jared's back, alright!_~"


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19:

In an almost wrecked block of a somewhat futuristic city, I stop a giant robot fist with a palm of my hand. Around me composes of, wrecked buidlings and some fire and some smoke. Some soldiers dead, and others barely conscious. In the park there are other girls here, presumably all in their HDD judging from the clothes they are wearing. And she's behind me, with a trench coat over her head.

" 'Ja…!' "

"Oh fuck, blocking that punch just broke my wrist…" I struggle to hold this giant fist of a robot with one hand.

"Hm? And who might you be, new challenger?" this giant robot dude just spoke.

"I'm just an ordinary passerby that fell from the sky!" I drive the fist down to the ground. But instead this robot dude quickly reverses his gear and falls back.

"Hey, who is this dude?" he asked a witch like woman.

The robot is large that is mostly orange and green in color. Its shoulders have two drill-like formations sticking out at the top while on the front of it. It also has two ROM cartridge looking blocks that are blue and red in color. It is also accompanied by six sets of wheels, three on each side, that have sharp golden points jetting out from the middle.

"…I don't know… but I feel like I've met him before…"

"What? Arfoire?" now that I have second look, it really is Arfoire.

Arfoire still retains her witch-like appearance. Her skin is still extremely pale and she still wears a black and purple one piece with a matching witch hat that are all lined with brown, albeit designed differently. This outfit is exposed even more than her previous one in regards to the torso area, which is now completely exposed along with underside of breasts.

"You! How do you know me?!" she asked.

"Hrm…" so she doesn't know me. Oh well, I am in another dimension after all.

"…Of course, I don't know you Arfoire" I teasingly said.

"Ooh! Dammit my ally Arfoire! You didn't tell me that you have male boyfriend!" the robot exclaimed.

"Shut up. Somehow, even though I don't know who he is, I feel like I don't want to fight him…"

"Is love getting into you?! Since I'm a true gentleman, I'll leave you two alone!" the robot declares.

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" haha… this is really funny.

"Truth is robot guy, I'm an engaged man with ring on his finger. Wouldn't want to have the woman behind me backstab me now, right?" I raise my hand to shoulder length, brandishing the ring on my finger.

" '…!' " the woman behind me gasps.

"Oh! A loyal man! I, CopyPaste, extend my salute to you!" the robot, known as CopyPaste, saluted. This guy, I mean it, really is a funny dude.

"Haha… I'd like to thank you for that but I guess it would be for another time…" I take a step, a step that everyone knows all too well.

"…Besides, you would want to have an advantage in this battle right?"

"Hmph. Pretty confident for someone that butted in…. 'Sure! I'll take this dance'"

A small wind blows, and her face transforms into what seems like a white _Oryctolagus Cuniculus_. Her ears are all perked up, and behind it is what seems like ears that are probably made out of feathers and have a purple color on the edges. In between it is a red diamond shape topping a purple diamond cowlick feather which extends towards its nose. It has red eyes, and on her neck are long pink strands of hair which is lighter than air making it float. Behind her are sinister like wings. In her hand is a double headed javelin with big red blades on either end.

"Ooh! A family dispute is always fresh and makes the relationship start anew!" CopyPaste said.

" 'I told you to shut up right' "

"Hahaha! It doesn't matter! A fight is always good for the body!"

"…You two ready?" I take another step.

" 'Tell me boy? What is your name?' "

"I don't have one… I forgot my name a long, long time ago…"

I look behind me, using my peripheral vision to look at the woman, with a trench coat over her. She has tears streaming down her face, mouth agape and both of her hands gripping the coat tightly.

"…Give me a second, okay?" I give her a smile. But she didn't answer. Oh well, that's an answer as well.

"…But, you can call me... Jared!" I lunge towards the two...!

CopyPaste drives in on me first. He readies his fist for a small boxing match. With those huge arms of his, he's entire front, is covered. He flies a jab, straight and a hook. I dodge them all, if not by a hair.

*BAM!*

I jump back after the hook punch, avoiding Arfoire's spear drop on me. She takes a step and started thrusting her weapon at me.

*THRUST!* *THRUST!* *SWING!* *SWING!* *THRUST!*

She swings and thrusts her double-headed javelin at me. I parry them with the back of my hand. Arfoire thrusts another towards my head. I raise my arm, parrying it upward. I grab the javelin, and then jerk it downwards with a twisting motion.

"Damn…!"

From behind, CopyPaste robot dude positioned himself behind me, his fist ready for another hook. I duck down avoiding it. Without wasting time, I pull the double-headed spear stumbling Arfoire forward. I give her a good elbow in the plexus.

" 'Guaa…!' "

With her grip looseneed, I jerk the weapon away from her, and kick her away. I quickly positioned my hands, turn and block the hook punch right at me.

*CLASH!*

*BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!*

The punch pushes me despite me planting my foot firmly on the ground. CopyPaste dude twists with the sound of the wheels turning, swinging another fist right at me. I duck down avoiding it. I can feel the wind brushing against me. When I raise my head, Arfoire summoned a normal spear and is coming straight at me. Guess this particular weapon is her favorite.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

I parry her attacks left and right. She pulls back and thrust her attack right at my center. I jump back, and draw a circular pattern with my own weapon as I do so.

*SCHNNNNNNNNNNNNNG!*

This drives the spear to the ground. I swing my weapon, intending to use the other end of the spear right towards her neck. She grabs it.

" 'You're pretty good' "

"I'm a passerby after all"

We both jump back and charge at each other again.

*BANG!*

She goes beyond sound and we met each other sooner than expected. I ready my weapon for a thrust when she acrobatically flips over me, giving my head a small tap. And the reason for doing so is that right in front of me is CopyPaste robot dude with holes all over its body.

*BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!*

Missiles started flying from those holes and homes in on me. I quickly regain my posture, when my instincts pull my upper body to the side, letting a spear pass from behind me. Arfoire had just thrown it. The spear and the missiles collided…

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*

A huge explosion erupted at my side and I was thrown to some pile of dead soldiers. They cushion my fall.

"HAHAHA! Explosions and destructions are so much fun!" CopyPaste shouted as he drives straight at me.

I quickly scramble for the soldiers loot. It seems he only has a few cans full of chlorobenzalmalononitrile. I quickly take those and put it inside my pocket. I run towards CopyPaste and thrust my weapon with his fist.

*CLASH!*

He flies his other fist at me, which was expected. I quickly slip pass from under him, avoiding the swing all together.

"C'mon…" I taunt him as he chases after me.

" 'You're not getting away…!' "

From behind me, Arfoire had managed to pin me. I quickly block Arfoire's attack from behind me. I jump up, avoiding a fist that sweeping from behind. When landed, I drive the spear down and swing my weapon using the other head of my own weapon.

Arfoire leans back avoiding my attack. Using the spinning momentum I have, I swing my back foot over the spear. Then I swing my front foot next, intending to hit Arfoire's rabbit head.

" 'Guh!' " I solid hit on the head.

When I landed, I roll to the side avoiding a double hammer down fist from Copypaste. Leaving the cans on the ground…

*BAM!*

*SCHZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!*

White smoke appeared after both of his fist hammers on it. Although tear gas is only quick, thin smoke used for riots, use enough of those it's enough to cover two people underneath it. I quickly tumble away covering my mouth and nose with the cuff of my clothes. Not to my surprise, I jump back right in front of the woman with a trench coat over her head.

"Shiit! This thing stings!" it seems Arfoire had untransformed.

"Hoooo! I can feel the love from his attacks! Even this gas is full of his lovely love!"

"Will you just shut up… *cough!* *cough!*… Shit!"

"Hahaha! What a wonderful battle! I am proud to fight such a man among men!" thanks robot guy.

"*Cough!* *Hack!*… Dammit! I swear I'll do the guy that 'repaired' you! Let's go!"

"Hmm? Oh, are we going to play tag now? Okaaay! Hahaha, wait up!"

The tear gas smoke clears and the two are running away towards the horizon. I pull down my shirt breathing the fresh air of this park. 'Fresh' isn't the right term since I can still smell a bit of the tear gas.

"… Haa, what a good workout… Now then…"

I turn to the girl behind me, and pet her head. The trench coat on top of her falls down, but we didn't mind. The woman looks at me, her bright blue eyes with white pupils shaped in a power symbols stares at me intently. Mouth agape, and has been opening and closing for a while now.

" 'J… Jared…?' " she asked with uncertainty. Tears started to form from the corners.

"…Yeah…"

" 'Jared…?' " again she asked. Now small streams of tears have started to fall.

"It's me…" I gently ruffle her hair.

" 'Is it really…*hic!*?' "

"Yeah… it's me" then the tears fall...!

" 'Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!' "

I wrap the girl in my arms and pull to my chest, hugging her tightly.

" 'Jaaaareeeed…! *Hic*… *Sob*… Waaaaahaaahh! Jaaareeeed!' "

"…I'm home, Neptune"


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20:

What's a home? You could say that it's a place where you live in, or a place where you feel most comfortable. But they say that a home is where you feel that your heart is there, where you're feelings are more relaxed in contrast to what is happening outside. So a home can be any place where you feel the most significance. It can be under a tree, beside a lake… or even with the person you love.

On top of a building, sitting by the edge, are two people with their hands interlocked together. We don't mind the danger if the wind picks us up. Both of us only cared for the person that is sitting right beside us. But luckily the wind has no intent of doing that, resulting in a calm considerate wind that I find enjoyable.

The girl beside me has her head on my shoulder with grin on her face. Understandably she's the happiest girl in the world right now. In turn, I am as well. You could even say that my dream came true.

"Jared…"

"…Hm?" I look at Neptune.

Neptune wears a has a choker around her neck with a light blue D-pad symbol on it and short sleeved mini hoodie with blue and purple lining around the sleeves and the hood. The hoodie is closed by a button emblem with a large N in the middle and has two strings that look like controller plugs. Underneath she wears a dark purple dress lined with light purple which zips up from the front and has pockets on both sides along with white lining along the bottom. Her socks are light blue and white striped thigh high socks with frills at the tops and her shoes are purple and blue with an N on them.

"...Hey, stop smudging your face against my shoulder"

"No way! You smell nice…" she continues.

"I'm serious. We might fall from here"

"Geez, still a bully as ever. Don't you think spoiling me for now would be better?"

"I will if we're not on the edge of a building"

"Such a spoilsport…" don't pout woman, I'm concerned for your safety.

"*Sigh*… Fine… let's do this then"

I move in behind her and pin her in between my legs. I hug her tightly, brushing my nose against her hair. The smell of her shampoo, the warmth that she has, the feel of her skin all of them registered into my mind. Haha… These both feel nostalgic and new. This is what one might call 'fresh'.

"… Jared…"

"Yeah?"

"You're back right?"

"I'm back"

"You're not going to go anywhere?"

"I'm staying here…"

"You won't leave me again?"

"I'll stay with you…"

"You won't make me cry again?"

"I'll make you cry tears of joy…"

"You bully…"

"I'm just full of myself" I hug her even tighter. In response, she touched the ring on my finger.

"Hehe… You're wearing our ring…"

"Of course, that would be pretty stupid of me not to wear it…"

"I really like it… the dress you gave me…"

"Really? Was it a nice fit?"

"Mhm, they fit…"

"Really? I guess making it slightly bigger was a good choice after all"

"Eeeeh?! You ordered a slightly bigger one!?"

"Yeah…"

"That's just mean. So you mean I'm getting fat!"

"I told you'd get fat by the time you hit 30"

"I'm going to get fat! I thought it was some grummy old-waifu's tale?"

"Have I ever lied to you?"

"Nepu!? What am I going to do now?"

"Cut down on your eating habits, that might work" it would definitely work.

"What am I going to do besides that!?" this girl is persistent.

"Um… exercise I guess?"

"Alright, starting tomorrow I'm going to go on a run with you!" she declared as she punches the air above her.

"Ah… right, you do that" not like it would help her. She literally eats way more than she could burn. Plus the girl's laziness is beyond her so I know that she won't do it.

"Moving on, you're still the same huh? Not even aged a bit, still cute as ever" I praise her as I pet her head.

"Mhm! I'm still your lovely, cute Neptune! I do have a thing to keep my figure in check"

"I don't think that was the case 4 lines ago"

"Uguh!"

"But the lovely part I can agree with. The ring on your finger says it all…" I touch the ring on her finger. It's a lilac colored diamond filled one.

"Mhm! I told you that I'm devotion first, looks second, and personality third"

"I know you are…"

"How about you? You didn't try to cheat on me while we were apart right?"

"I didn't. I promised you that one time in the bath right?"

"Oh yeah, you did promise me…" don't start forgetting the promises I made to you. Well, even if she did forget them, I definitely won't, since I have a habit of keeping 'jobs'.

"...And speaking of promises… we're down to the last one huh?"

"Mhm…" the girl nods.

"Want to do it now?" I ask as both of us play with each other's ring.

"Mm hm…" she lightly shakes her head.

"…I want everyone to be there…"

"Everyone?"

"Nepgear, Plutie, Histy, Histy, Noire, Vert, Blanc, Uni, Rom, Ram, Iffy, Compa, Peashy… and…"

"So basically, you mean _everyone_, right?"

"Yeah, everyone!"

"You sure? Noire will be there. The No. 1 girl in Gamindustri"

"Oh yeah, huh? Popular Heart will be there and everyone will be eyeing her instead of us huh?" you holding a grudge or something?

"I kinda didn't know about the poll thing happening, it must have brushed under my nose"

"If you knew, you'll make me no. 1 right?"

"Um… no. That would be cheating"

"Nepu! I thought you're my boyfriend! Aren't you supposed to boast how great I am and stuff!?"

"Sorry woman. One against the world is just too much for me, I've got my hands tied down as it is" my hands are tied down to this particular girl that I'm holding right now.

"Then, I'm second place, right? Tell me that I'm second place!"

"Probably. But we have Vert so she might have used her tits to get that spot"

"Nepu! Then I'm third? At least I'm not as last as Blanc"

"Well, Blanc has her novels that won't sell. And she can pull of a smile if she tries. So… my good conclusion would be you're dead last"

"Guah! Now I feel so unmotivated…"

"C'mon, at least you're _my_ fourth place winner"

"That line is so cheesy that I feel _really_ motivated right now"

"Dammit, and I'm trying to be so romantic here as our reunion"

"Speaking of reunions and stuff you ever met my Nep. Jr?"

"Nepgear? What? The girl didn't tell you?"

"Didn't tell me?" so Nepgear didn't tell her about me huh? It must be due to the fact that she's a happy little sister that got reunited with her big sis and forgot all about me in the process.

"…That I ate your pudding's at home"

"Nepu! You cheater! Thief! Bully! Why'd you eat my pudding? That's a crime!" she started hitting me.

"Because it has Nep written on top of it. Couldn't help myself"

"That's just mean! You should ask permission to me first y'know!"

"Don't worry about it, I did replace some of them with pudding from _my_ dimension. Can't say that the taste will be to your liking…"

"Oooh! Pudding from _Jared's _dimension! That would taste like bonanza! Let's go back right now!" this girl gets excited for the weirdest reasons…

"Well I do have a number of gifts that I owe… like our anniversary, valentines, Christmas…"

"Mhm, you owe me a lot when you left me. So you better pay them!"

"Yes ma'am"

A slight wind blows against us, the city below us, as white and slightly futuristic as it is, gives us a sense of superiority as a result of our euphoria. And probably because our important persons are here that we don't mind the cold high wind.

"Neptune…"

"…Hm?"

"…I love you"

"I love you too, Jared!"

"Also…" she adds…

"…Welcome home!" and gave me her signature picturesque smile.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21:

"So anyway? Where are we?"

"We're in Leanbox!"

"Ah huh…?"

Leanbox looks futuristic. I thought for sure that I was in Planeptune. Although comparing this to Planeptune it does look like Planeptune has an edge on that. The city mainly composes of white buildings with green linings everywhere. The streets are wide. The air is fresher than a hospital's. Plus the cars here, aren't flying nor do they fit the theme of futuristic, they're more retro. Like the Mercedes R107 SL.

From what I read in the 'book', it seems that Leanbox looks fairly more of the same back in our dimension. Of course, I can't confirm it since I'm only going along the descriptions from a book. But still, the descriptions are greatly detailed that you might think you are literally in there.

"Anyway where are we going Jared? Another amusement park?" Neptune asked cheerily.

"Some public lockers first, I need to get my bag. And it's your call anyway"

Hand in hand, the two of us walk along the sideways of the Leanbox. The streets are not that busy, due to that attack earlier on most of them are cowering inside their homes like a scared cat. But there people here and there trying to finish their shopping. We round a corner and enter a small alleyway. I find the public lockers and find my own.

"Here it is…" mumbling to myself, I take out a small key, unlock it, and rid the contents.

"There… now where should we go… Hm?" as my eyes return to Neptune, by the corner of the alley a shadow, I mean, _five _ shadows just moved away.

"*Sigh*…" can I call the police? We're being stalked. And I've also noticed them since the very beginning. By beginning, I mean when the two of us are having our small talk up above some random building.

"Ah, I know! We can go eat at this fancy tancy restaurant! They have all the sweets there!"

"Sounds like a plan…"

With Neptune leading our stride, we reenter the sidewalk. Neptune lightly swings both our arms, and lightly skips in her delight. The girl hums a familiar yet unrecognizable song. Clearly having a blast from the get go. Both of us have a lot of catching up to do, and I don't think that we'd cover all that in our second date.

"…That said though…" the five people that are tailing us clearly need to catch up to us.

In tailing jobs, too many people and too less people both prescribe in being caught. That's because your target are unexpected and may randomly turn back when they feel like it. That's why a pair is the appropriate sweet spot, especially if it's a male and female. Even the best agents use this method.

That goes the same if you have more. More people make more of a bigger conspicuous idiot. Especially if that 'more' people are together. It kinda feels like they're waving a sign that says: "we're tailing you! So don't mind us!".

That goes without saying that one person is also conspicuous. Some people are more wary than others and having a stone aged man glaring at your back even I get the need to look behind and scan my immediate area.

Case in point: Whenever you need to shadow someone, anticipation and perception are keys to success.

"…I'd probably give them an F in this department"

"Hm? You say something?"

"Nothing… You sure we're going the right way?"

"Ahaha! Don't kid me, I know this place like the back of my head!"

"…Do you even know what's at the back of your head?"

"Nope!"

"Helpful…" now I fear that we might get lost in a city that I don't know about.

"Oh there!"

"Oh, that looks fancy indeed"

It's a colorful establishment of sorts. It's small but the design does fit the bill of it being 'fancy'. There's a large list of menu just outside written in a chalkboard. It ranges from cakes, to drinks, to a full time meal. Neptune looks at the menu, thinking what to eat. I take out my phone and pretend to take a call.

*SNAP!*

When I look, there were 5 women, 4 of them looks like Noire, Vert, Blanc and Nepgear and one of them I don't know who. Maybe she's the girl named Plutie? Then again, Neptune does have a tendency to make a nickname out of almost everyone. My gawd they are so bad at this…

"Neptune, want to have some fun first before we eat?"

"Nepu?"

* * *

"Hmm…"

"Hmm…"

"Umm…"

"Hmm…"

"Um…"

"Shh!"

This was strange, downright stranger, no ridiculous, preposterous. They've been asking to themselves, 'What is Neptune doing with a man?'. They all know that Neptune is the most idiotic, lazy of the all of them. When you include Plutia into the mix you have yourself a recipe of idiocy. But to think, to think, that Neptune _actually_ has a boyfriend! It was strange, stranger, and ridiculous.

They've been following the two since they've flown of from the battle earlier. And their thoughts about the battle earlier was just… well, they were perplexed. How in the world does one man able to drive out two of the seven sages. That was just impossible. Plus he doesn't feel like to be a CPU of any sort.

"He's crazy strong…" Vert mumbled…

"…but he did give you a favor…" Blanc added.

"So Nepgear, who's the guy that Neptune's with?" Noire asked.

"Um… That would be Sis's boyfriend"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"How nice… Neppy's so adult!" Plutia said.

Ignoring what Plutia said. They still could not believe it. A strong guy, capable of standing on his own, is Neptune's boyfriend. For all they know all those gibberish that they talked about on top of that random building might have been scripted. Or he might be a gigolo that's able to swing in any women.

"…C'mon you guys, can't we just leave those two alone…They've been apart for years now…" Nepgear pleads, knowing that she doesn't want to ruin her sister's fun.

"Don't you think that this is strange as well, my Nepgear?" Vert of this dimension said.

"…We don't know who he is and yet he's acting so familiarly to Neptune"

"He might even be an imposter of what you're saying" Blanc and Noire of this dimension respectively added.

"Fueeeeh? So he's a fake?" Plutia said.

"Um… I don't think he is one… probably"

"…If you're uncertain then that means he's a fake…" Blanc concluded as such…

"Aren't we getting those children missing cases lately?" Noire asked.

"Th-Then!? He's a kidnapper" Vert concluded.

"Eeeeeh!? Neppy is going to get kidnapped!" Plutia said.

"I-I don't think he's a kidnapper of sorts… probably…"

"...He's probably nabbing clumsy little girls like Neptune and says cute stuff to them…"

"And when the children's defenses are down, he quickly pulls out his handkerchief…"

"And smudges against their face. Making them fall asleep…"

"…A white van will drive by…"

"And the kidnapping is complete"

"Noooooo! Neppy's been kidnapped!"

"Um…"

"Ssh! They're on the move…!" Noire hushed the concerned little sister.

Jared and Neptune moves through a thin crowd of people while the five of followed suit. They move cover from cover from what little the city of Leanbox can offer. The two couple waited for by the intersection until the green light to cross the road comes. The five hid themselves amongst the crowd of people by the flower shop, which was a 2 lots away.

"Um… Don't you think this is getting ridiculous…?" Nepgear asked in concern. She really, really wants to let those two go.

"After coming this far? We can't let this pursuit end" Vert said.

"…She's right for once…" Blanc agreed.

"If anything, we need to make sure the Neptune's safe. Not like I'm interested what happens to the two of them"

"Uwaaa… Noire's acting like a tsundere!" Plutia said.

"Don't call me that!"

"…*Sigh*… Sorry, Sis, Jared…"

"They're crossing the street…!"

True to what Vert said, it seems they were allowed to cross the street. The five followed continuing on this pursuit until the end. Until a truck driver rounded the corner clearly beating the red light.

"Hey, watch it asshole!" a bystander said as he clicked his tongue. With that they continue to cross the street…!

"They're gone!"

"Neptune's been kidnapped!"

The five crossed the street in a panic and searches the last known location of where they've gone. There was none of the two in sight. They dart their eyes from one location to the next looking for any signs of that purple haired girl.

"What are we going to do? Neppy's been kidnapped"

"Worrying won't help, Plutie. We just need to find them…" Vert reassuringly said.

"…In this scenario, wouldn't kidnappers make demands?" Blanc asked.

"That's true. Most kidnappers do it for the money. And a smart kidnapper would use the kidnapped person as bargaining chip to get what they want. Some would even go as far as to give them meals three times a day…"

"Yeah, that's it. So what's your demand Mr. Kidnapper?" Noire asked.

"That you don't follow us all over the damn place"

"What? That's an easy one… Eh…?"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH!?"


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22:

"*Sigh*…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"*Num!* *Num!* *Num!*…Oooh! This parfait is so delish!"

"Let me try! Let me try!"

Inside the small 'fancy-tancy' restaurant that Neptune talked about, all 7 of us occupied a table. The restaurant looks good whenever you look at it and it would have been a good dating spot for our second. But with these five tailing us around it's going to get difficult on the intimate moments.

"Jared! Jared! Get a load of this parfait! It's cold and it's super yummy!" it seems that my girlfriend can't read the awkward situation. Wait, girlfriend shouldn't be the right term now, right?

"Of course it is… its parfait…"

"Um… I'm really sorry don't mind my Sis…!" geez Nepgear, you don't have to cover for her.

"Don't worry Nepgear, I'm used to her randomness…" I reassure her.

"In any case… why, in everything that is considered divine and holy, are you guys following me?" I go back on topic as I return my eyes onto the three girls in question.

"Well…" Noire of this dimension tried to think up of an answer.

Noire, of this dimension, apparel consists of a dark gray tank top that exposes her stomach with a blue ribbon in the center and a matching skirt with blue highlights on the pleats. On her arms she wears detached sleeves that are open at the upper arm but attached by a black strap and buckle. Her leg wear consists of over the knee blue socks and dark grey boots that match her tank top.

"…We thought you were a kidnapper" Blanc said.

Blanc, of this dimension, clothes are inspired by the Japanese shrine maiden attire and consist of a red dress with fold-skirt and a leafy pattern along the bottom. The dress has a black tank top piece with an accessory with red lining and a blue sphere in the center with thin strings. At the top of the dress is a golden flower piece with black strap connecting around her waist. Over this is a white jacket with a big tassel hanging on the ends of both sleeves with flowers. On her right arm is a bracelet, made with oversized black and white beads. Her white cap has gained red and pink petal pattern and a black circled segment in the center. She also has on thigh high stockings with red lining and black sandals with red ribbons at the toe and flower symbols.

"Great, what's the next title that's going to lump on me?" I mumble to myself as I let out a sigh.

"Woooh! This is so tasty Neppy!"

"Let's order another one! MIIISSS!"

"Great… now I fear for my wallet…" I'm not particularly disturbed about my money but I am wary of it.

"In any case why would you girls assume that I would kidnap my own girl? You've already heard the conversation we had at the roof of some random building right?"

"You were on to us?" Vert of this dimension is shocked. While a waitress of this restaurant hands over another parfait to the two girls.

Vert of this dimension wears a different off the shoulder dress. It is a dark sea foam-teal color with puffed somewhat sleeves and black spiked cuffs at the end. Her breast still show but have very thin light green straps connecting to her choker-piece around her neck, resembling the belt she wears. The dress covers her lower half and goes between her legs, while the back part is much longer with spiked lining. Around her waist she has a black belt like piece with green circled pads on each hip, connecting to a very light blue ribbon/sash. Her hair also gains a matching colored hair bow, while on her neck she has something matching the belt. Her shoes are black slip-ons with same pads at the toe and ballerina-like wrappings around the leg.

"You five are so easy to find, even a child would see through it"

"Reeeeaaally… We weren't sneaky enough…"

"That's not it Plutie, he's just too good for all of you!"

"Reeeeeaaally… That's so greeeaaat…"

"You must be Plutie, am I right?"

"Mhm! My name is Plutia, but Neppy calls me Plutie" the girl has a veeeeeeeeeeeery slow tempo.

Plutie, is well, um, how do I say this, wearing in her pajamas? She looks to be pre-teen, but may very well be an adult or close to one in terms of age. She has fair-pale skin and bright pink eyes. Her hair is about waist length with very wild, messy bangs framing her face while her hair looks to be worn down, but in a very thick/big braid held with a pastel pink frilled ribbon.

She wears an odd outfit, consisting of a very loose powder blue top with a frilled neck segment with a bright pink-purple bow and a long white segment in the center held with a white multipiece belt with a purple piece in the center. At the top on the sleeve sides are pink cloth segments with ruffled white lining and a single white stripe on each piece. Her dress has small sleeves with button-clasp, making it look like a shirt pair of overalls. On each sleeve is a peach and white line, while the sleeves cuff buttons to the upper segment of sleeve, most likely to keep them from being too long. She also wears an uneven length white skirt piece that looks longer in back, and opened in the middle. Along with pink and white striped socks and pink bear shaped fuzzy slippers.

"So Plutia's your name? Mind if I call you Plutie? I'm Jared, by the way"

"You can, Ja… weed?" the hell?

"Call me Jarey"

"Okay, Jarey!" the girl smiled. I got to admit, the girl's cute.

"Wait, you're not going to introduce yourself to us?" Noire asked.

"Oh right, sorry. That was very stupid of me…" probably because it's weird that I know them. Seeing as they are just a counterpart of the dimension where Neptune, Nepgear and I are originally at.

"My name is Jared, an ordinary passerby"

"Noire"

"…Blanc"

"Vert" I want to say I know, but I gulp it down.

"…What's your relationship with Neptune?" Blanc asked.

"Basically she's…!"

"He's my boyfriend!" Neptune interjected while spewing some parfait all over my face. I let out my hand signaling Nepgear to gulp down whatever she has to say.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"This is so delish!" it seems Plutie isn't so disturbed by the silence.

"Well that is true, but what I mean to say is…" I wipe my face with a tissue.

"…she's basically my fiancée"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH!?" and why is Nepgear shouting as well.

"Gawd, indoor voices please…" my ears are ringing.

"Hey, hey. What's a fee-an-say?" Plutie asked.

"Basically she's…"

"…my Sis is getting married" Noire and Nepgear said.

"Uwaaa! Neppy's getting married!"

"Well, I'm an adult after all!" Neptune proudly says.

"…H-How did it come to this…?" Blanc asked.

"Yes, I would like to know that as well" Vert added.

"Well, we're just two lovers who happens to want to get our love story done simple and easy, I guess" that could be a good summarization.

"No, no, no. How _can_ Neptune get a boy in the first place?" Noire asked.

"That would be my fault for falling for her"

"How _did _you fall for Neptune?" Vert interrogated.

"Dunno. I'm still thinking about it. Neptune, how did you fall for me?"

"Hmm… Dunno!"

"…We have three idiots now…" that's harsh Blanc.

"Well, truth be told, we were separated for, what, 11 years, including the time that she was here..." yeah, 8 + 3 is 11.

"…Separated?" Nepgear noticed.

"How did you get separated in the first place?" Noire asked.

"'The world' forced me out of this dimension…"

"You came from a different dimension?" Vert said.

"…I came from a dimension that I originally at. Then, I went into Neptune and Nepgear's hoping for a reunion. But seeing as Neptune is here by the time I got there, I followed suit"

"Geez Jared! You're such a loyal pet to your master!" please don't refer to me as such, Neptune.

"...That is one amazing relationship…"

"Indeed…"

"Yeah…"

"Neppy! You're Jarey is so cooool…!"

"Really! Well, I do have an eye for men after all!"

"Well, seeing as you girls already know if the situation. Can we get back to our date now? Just the two of us, I mean…"

"Yes. Our concern has been fulfilled"

"We're sorry for disturbing"

"…Good luck to you two" Vert, Nepgear and Blanc respectively said.

"Wait. wait. We can't actually leave them together right? What if they do… um… stuff that's not appropriate" Noire questioned.

"Why not? They're already lovers no one would mind"

"…Indeed

"And what do you mean by 'not appropriate'?" I ask Noire…

"Well, it's… um…"

"Noire's face is so red…!" Plutia said. Well it is true that Noire's face is getting redder.

"H-Hey, g-get off my back!"

"...Pervert" Blanc bluntly said.

"No I'm not!" oh yes you are.

"Well, whatever she meant, which I'm sure is what Blanc meant, we better get…" when look beside me, there was already a behemoth of empty glasses which once houses parfaits…

"Neptune, how many did you eat?"

"Hrr? Dunno! But it was tasty!"

"Thanks for the food!" Plutie thanked.

"Um… this is your bill" the waitress 'magically' popped out of nowhere and handed to me the bill.

"Great..." I take out my wallet and see that I don't have any money to pay in cash.

"Do you accept credit cards?"

"Yes, we do"

"Here…" I take out 'one' of my black cards and handed it to the waitress. The waitress' eyes sparkle with surprise.

"Sir! W-w-w-w-would you consider another special?" I knew that this would happen…

"Another one! Yay!" Neptune cheered.

"Just one, okay?"

"Okay!" Neptune agrees.

"You heard the woman, and check in the bill right away"

"Sir, yes sir!"


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23:

"Now where should we go?"

"You tell me, I'm as clueless as you are"

We just left the restaurant and also the others. Now, we are just spending our time together without any plans whatsoever. Well, going on a date without a plan is kinda embarrassing as the male here. But it also has its merits. Like for example:

"…an arcade"

"An arcade!" Neptune repeated my words with more glee.

"An arcade, let's go! Let's go!"

"Hey, don't pull on me!"

"But it's the arcade!" what's with the hungry look?

Neptune tugs me along inside the arcade like some old man that can't walk anymore. The arcade has a number of things here that is stimulating the child inside me. From fighting games, to racing games, even a basketball shooting gallery is here. I'd like to test myself on that. We move along the crowds of people and find ourselves in front of a high striker game. You know, using a hammer, hitting it on a specified pad and hoping that the chaser hits the bell up top.

"Let's start here first!" Neptune takes the hammer.

"You sure you can do it?" I said as I put two coins on the machine. That would release the chaser from a lock.

"Hehe… Don't underestimate me buster!"

"I'm not" I really am not underestimating you.

Neptune lifts the hammer over her head and hammers down to the pad.

*BAM!*

"Whoo…" I couldn't help but whistle my surprise as the chaser races up towards the bell above.

*TING!*

The chaser hits the bell, and it stuck there. Presumably that the internal lock that activated. There was a screen on top of the bell and it displays three numbers.

"567 points huh?" I announce. At the side, where I placed my coins, tickets started coming out.

"Hehe…!" Neptune gave a peace sign to me as she collects them. Oho, so that's what she was planning.

"Hehe… let's beat that world record…" I put more two coins in, and the chaser drops down with a *bam!*. I hold the hammer in my hands and raise it over my head, and swing it down as hard as I can go.

*BAM!*

The sound of the hammer hitting the pedal was so loud that the noises around you might have suddenly gone quiet for a moment. Well, that's just you concentrating on that particular noise. The chaser rises, and hits the bell hard.

*TING!*

The bell tolls louder than it should and the display on top of it says the score:

796

Damn it! Only 4 more and I would have got to 800!

"Nepu! There are so many tickets coming out! I'm drowning in tickets now!" Neptune really is sitting there with a mountain of tickets all around and over her. I take out my phone…

*Snap!*

"…Nice. I could use this for a gag or two" I mumble to myself. It really is funny.

"Let's take a selfie next!"

"What? In a pile of tickets? Sure" I position myself beside Neptune and point the camera to us.

"Here…" she pours me some tickets over my head. We're going to get tangled in here if you continue to do that.

*SNAP!*

I snap this particular scene. Well, this is comical.

"Let's deposit these and see what we can get"

"I want a bunny please!" if we have enough.

Standing up, we both then pick up these mountains of tickets and heading over to the ticket counter. The man behind counter drops the chocolate he was eating as he's mouth stay agape from how many tickets we have. The man just totters away as if seeing a Cyclops as we put our mountain of tickets on the counter.

"Mister! What do we get?" Neptune asks.

"Ah… ah… there… " he points weakly at some empty shelves above. Why are you freakin' scared mate? I know _I'm _not scaring you.

"Eeeh? But there isn't all that to choose from though…" Neptune scans at the mostly empty shelves.

"Hmm… Hey, isn't that a coupon?" you always find some of those here. Helps the place where the coupon came from.

"Ooh! And it's about sweets as well! We can get a free box of chocolates!" Neptune said excitingly.

"Box of chocolates, huh?" my mind wonders where we should eat those…

"Hey, mister! We want that"

As per Neptune's demand, the man pulls himself up, not bothering to count how many tickets we have for the exchange, and just simply gave us the coupon. I place safely inside my wallet.

"So what do you want to do? Play a few more?"

"Mhm! Let's get on that racing game"

"Hoho… you sure you want to challenge me woman?" I say as we head over to the nearest racing game for two players.

"In the eyes of the kids I'm the King of the Road!" Neptune says as we both take a seat and I put coins in each of our machines.

"You better cherish that title I might take it away from you…"

* * *

"Done!"

"Fir… wait, second!?"

"Told you to cherish it, now give me my award" the race was fierce in a sense. Throughout the entire race we've both been switching 2nd and 1st place.

"No way, you totally cheated!"

"Hey now, that's being a sore loser"

"No way, you rigged the system or something. Let's go to different one and see how like them apples!"

"Bring it on woman…" the girl is just having fun. It doesn't take the Einstein in me to not notice that.

* * *

'_Double KO!_' the pre-rendered voice of the machine said.

"Awwww! And I had you there too!" Neptune says as we both stand up. We just fought on some machine called 'Spirit Calibur!'.

"Yeah… I kinda panicked a bit when you do that chain combo at me. Had a hard time to blocking it all"

"Ooh, want to play that next?" Neptune points to a basketball shooting gallery.

"Sure… anything to get you to lose" I teasingly add.

"I'm not going to lose here! I'm a pro under the hoop!"

"Alright"

* * *

"Whoo!" we both expressed…

*CLAP!*

...and high fived at each other's efforts.

We almost have the same score during the entire run, cut a few scores from me and you might level with Neptune's. Of course, we did sweat a bit.

"Here… stay still" I wipe her with my handkerchief.

"MhmNmm… Thanks, here I'll wipe you too" Neptune takes out a cute handwoven handkerchief herself and wipe the sweat off my brow.

"Thanks…" yup, this girl is downright cute.

"What should we play next?" she asked excitingly.

"Hm…" I think up my options.

Well we are on a date afterall, so I wouldn't mind a playing a few more games with her. That said though, the sun is setting according to the time. And if we're out too late, I'm going to bet my black cards the Nepgear would get worried, which I know she'll restrain herself from following us. So what's the best thing to do?

"...All right, so we just press this… and this… good" I stand up straight as I lean back from the screen above the camera. The display finally displays us as well as a counter that is counting down on the corner.

"What kind of pose should I do?" Neptune does a number of poses.

"…How about something like this?"

"Ne-!...Mm…"

I pull her up by the waist, and lay my lips on hers. It tastes like strawberry since she ate parfait earlier. I don't mind… I don't mind at all…

"*Kiss*…Mn … *Smack* *Kiss*"

As if knowing what to do, as if it were a switch, Neptune climbs her hands and wraps it around my neck.

"Mn, mmm… *Smack*…*Kiss*… haa…"

"Jared… Mn…*Smack*… Nn… *Smack*…"

We pull each other closer seeking each other as our breaths gets hotter and hotter. The camera had already taken our photo.

"Mm… *Kiss*… I love you… Ahm… *Smack*… Mm… "

"Nn... mmm… *Smack*… mm, mmn *Kiss* *Smack*"

"Jared…*Smack*… mm, *Smack* *Smack*... mmn, ah"

We both pull back from our kiss. We really didn't use our tongue since we were only so engrossed in just the notion of our kiss.

"Hey… let's continue this somewhere else…"

"Mhm…"


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24:

I've never been on the side of expensive equates to the amount of love a man has for a woman. Of course not all men are capable of spending such amounts of money to the women they court. The downside is, when we spend a bit too much we also mind the value of it in currency sense. It makes us total jerks if you think about it. Simple enjoyment of spending some time, even if you two aren't doing anything special, with your significant other is what counts. Spend a little money, and it would return to you with moments that will turn into stories…

"…Of course, you have to make those moments first. Not like they just lump it on you…"

"Hm?"

"Nothing…"

The girl at my side returns to smudging her face on my arm as the elevator climbs. On her other hand is a plastic bag which contains a box full of chocolates that we won earlier. Apparently the owners of the store was kinda shocked to see that we that coupon. It seems that they didn't expect the coupon to be won and just wrote their most expensive box of chocolates as a reward. With a ting from the elevator, we made our exit and look for signs to wherever our room might be.

We're inside this 'awesome looking' hotel, in Neptune's words. Of course, a 5 star hotel is indeed awesome looking without holding back any of its gasconades. I was willing to take the suite which is the most expensive piece of room in this place but sadly it was taken. Not like it matters anyway.

Finding our room, I slide in our key card and the electronic lock unlocks. We enter our room.

The room is has a single bed and lamp on the bedside table. The floor is woolen matching the dimension of the floor. The walls are lightly in a shade of green with a huge window wall directly opposite of us. A door to one side presumably leading to the bathroom. I put down my bag by the corner of the hall.

"Uwaaa! Look at all the lights! So Leanbox has something prettier than its games!" Neptune runs ahead and examines the view through the window pane as I shut the door then flicked on the lights. You're going to ruin the chocolates…

Well the city of Leanbox, of this dimension I mean, really is a good and gorgeous city at night, much like Planeptune, in the dimension before. I do wonder what happened to that medieval theme. It does make me a bit melancholic whenever I step out of that particular Leanbox and jog around a few.

As I am contemplating all this, it seems that my body has a brain of its own as I am moving towards Neptune's defenseless back. Without any warning, I wrap my arms around her. Look how warm she is against the hotel room's temperature. Maybe the air conditioner is set to a lower temp.

"Jared…"

"…Yeah?"

"…You're warm…"

"…I keep myself warm just for you…"

"Cheesy…"

"…But that's what you like about me right?"

"…Mhm…"

"…Jared…"

"…What?"

"It's getting cold…"

"Alright…"

Neptune turns to me, still under my arms, and drops the plastic bag. She wraps her arms around my neck and proceeded to push forward towards my lips.

"Mm… *Smack*... *Kiss* *Kiss* *Smack*…Mm…"

As we exchange kisses, I guide our bodies towards the bed.

"*Kiss*… Mm… *Kiss* *Smack*…*Lick*…Mm"

As I gently put her to bed, we both open our mouth and find each other's tongue.

"Haa… Mm, ahm… mm, mm… *Slurp!*"

Without any reserve, we continue to offensively seek each other. It didn't take long before our switch flipped.

"…Fua… haa, mm… *Slurp*… *Lick*….*Smack*"

"Mm, *Slurp*… *Smack*… mm, haa… haa"

I push myself upward releasing ourselves from our tongue lapping. Neptune has her face flushed, a vivid shade of red on her cheeks and eyes that are dazed.

"Comfy?"

"…Mhm… it's getting warmer too…"

"...That a fact?"

"…Mhm… so do me, please…" Neptune pulls me in.

"Roger that…" with open mouths we both engrossed once more into our French kiss.

"Mm, *Kiss*… Mm… *Lick* *Slurp*…"

"*Lick* fuu… haa… mmph, *Slurp*… *Lick*"

With tongues entwined together like a knot, we make audible loud noises that fills the room.

"*Kiss* *Kiss*… mm, Nefuu… haa…"

"Mm… *Slurp*… mm… *Kiss*"

As we exchange attacks, I support myself with my knees, one of them right in between her legs. I lift myself up and my hands crawl to her chest.

Without any effort I found the N button holding onto her mini hoodie and unbuttoned it.

"*Slurp*…*Smack*… mm, haa… mm *Kiss*"

"Fmm! Nn…*Slurp!*…*Lick!*…Mm… Fwaa…!"

Releasing from our bliss, I get up and then find the zipper to her dress easily. Pulling it down and I find that what is supposed to be there isn't.

"No bra?" although she has her usual light blue and white stripped panties.

"…It's hot if I wear one…" it's bad if you don't.

"…Oh well, we are having sex. Hardly matters anyway…"

I pull myself downwards towards her lower groin. As I do so, I take off her panties through one leg and slightly spread her vagina open with two of my index fingers. Liquid flows out, staining the sheets below.

"…You're wet as always…" I'm not actually surprised, but the amount is ludicrous. Who knows how much liquid she excretes just from being horny.

"…Mm…"

A small moan escapes her as I run my finger around her labia. A lingering nostalgic heat spreads from my finger. Even the smell is gives me a euphoric sense of remembrance. Wanting to smell it more like a hungry little dog, I stick out my tongue and press it to her "other" hole.

"…Nepu! Th-That's my other hole!"

"Sorry, sorry. I was going for the smell of your pussy"

"…Geez, such a bully…"

"…We really need to fix that…" it all fine and dandy like this but if she continues to call me that down the line we might have some problems.

Sliding my fingers up her vagina, in one smooth confident movement, I then peel back her clitoral hood.

"…Nepu… aahh.."

Her clitoris, already erect and half-exposed, instantly hardens at the touch of the outside air. I wet my fingers with saliva and begin to roll it gently around.

"…Ha… uuh! Ah… aaah… h… hii… gah… aaah!"

Neptune writhes back and forth restlessly with every movement of my finger against her.

Firmly holding down her waist, I lower my face to her vagina. I gather plenty of warm, wet saliva onto my tongue, and begin to aggressively lap at her elect clit.

"Nepuu…! Jared… Jaaareeed… hii… ah…!"

"…Uuu… mm… uu… uuuu… hi… uu"

Neptune shoots a glance at my face, currently sticky with juices. And squeezes her eyes shut immediately when add more pleasure to her already mushed brain.

"…Uu… uuuuu… uu… ah… aaah… aah… ah…"

Small tears well up in the corner of her eyes. Thick, cloudy fluid, as if there wasn't enough, begins to flow from her vagina in growing quantities.

"…Uu… uaaahhh! Wa… Ja… red… I can't hold on… No… cut it out…"

"Gonna cum?"

"Mh…Mhm… If you do any more…"

"Oh really…?"

"Hyaaa! Fwaah… J-Jared… Shtop!"

Ignoring Neptune's objection, I strengthen my stimulation of her clit. Tapering my tongue to fine point, I stick it into her then pull it out vigorously, purposely producing a loud, wet pop.

I imitate the movement of a penis and repeatedly push my tongue inside her then draw it out.

"…Jar…Neefffwaaaa…!"

She tries to push me away, but I push more towards her, rendering her helpless against my attacks.

"Aaah, aaah…! Haaa, nn…!"

In between these thrusts, I play her clit briefly then return.

"It's so mu-much… haaah, fwaaaaah…!"

"Hyaah, haa, fwaaah, haa, haaa…!"

And soon enough, Neptune stops struggling and her voice is replaced with heated pants of ecstasy.

"Haa, ah, no, I'm gonna… haaah, gonna… cum…!"

With her voice in excitement and high pitched, I take that as my cue and abruptly accelerate the movement of my tongue against her vagina.

"Hyaaaa, I'm cu… cumingggg!"

Neptune practically shrieks the words, and her body goes stiff underneath me as she reaches climax. I watch in satisfaction as she surrenders herself completely to the pleasure.

"Haaa, haa, haaaa…"

The tremors finally begin to die down, her tightly shut eyes inch open to look up at me.

"...Felt good?"

"…Mhm…" a small meek nod. Shem ust be drunk from all the stimulation I gave her.

Giving the girl another long kiss, Neptune moves her hands and begins to undo my pants. Not wavering on this thought, she quickly feels for my erect member which is hiding under a piece of cloth from my underwear.

"…I want to pay you back…"

"For the bullying I've done to you?"

"Mhm…"

Reversing our positions, she continues to feel for my erect dick as if giving me a sign that she wants to tease me to the point of cumming. I don't mind of course.

"_haa… haa… _*Sniff* *Sniff*… Fwaaa… Jared's dick…"

"…Are you a dog or something?"

"…*Lick!*…"

"Whoa…!"

Without warning, Neptune licks my erect groin through the underwear. The warm liquid sensation made me jerk a bit.

Revealing my erect member, she grabs firmly on it and started planting kisses on the tip…

"*Kiss*…"

"*Kiss*… *Kiss*… *Kiss*…"

An endless shower of kisses…

She's usually much assertive than this. And her fellatio is much more pleasurable than most others. If anything, this is really a just the start of her 'payback' for what I did to her earlier.

"Mm… *Kiss*… haa *Kiss* mm *Slrp!* *Smack!* mm *Slurp!*"

Holding it with her hands she teasingly licks my shaft. I watch her move her tongue without reserve on the tip. My manhood throbs and twitches with each.

"Nn… *Slrp!*… *Lick*… *Smack!*…"

Stretching her tongue, she licks the tip of my thing with gentleness of a first timer. Her fingertips are moving lightly, as if slowly building up my lust. It's rather frustrating when I'm this backed up and this is how I get treated.

"*Slrp!* mm… *Lick* *Smack*… haahn…"

"Mn… haa… *Slrp!**Lick!**Lick!*…"

She switches from licking on the tip and on the sides to my balls. Her hands pump on it gently, slowly pushing me.

"Hampf… mm, *Smack*… haa, mm…"

"…*Lick*, *Slrp*…mm, haa…"

"Kh…!"

But even with this frustrating gentleness of hers I can't help but give small moan. She deliberately give timid licks and smacks on my shaft, the notion of it is adorable.

"*Lick*… ahm… Mm… *Lick* *Slurp*"

"Nm… *Smack!* *Slrp!* *Slurrp!*…"

From the tip, with slow suction, she pushes her mouth up against me and crawl her lips towards the base.

"*Sluurrp!*…nm…mnn, mm…"

"…Ah"

My penis feels the warmth of her mouth as it slowly crawls towards her throat.

With my shaft squeezed by her lips, her wet tongue stimulated my sensitive spots.

"Mm… Nmm, mmh…*Slurp*…*Lick*, *Slrp!*…mm…nnh… haah…"

"Mm… Jared's… so big… nmh…"

"Ha… nn… ah… aah… *Slrp!*…"

Neptune devoured my dick earnestly. Dear gawd, she's such a natural that I'm almost overwhelmed.

"Nn… mmn… *Slrp!*… *Smack!*, *Slurp!*… mh… haah… ahn… mm, mmn… mm… *Smack!*"

The sound of her saliva echoed as she licked my manhood. The hotel room is filled with nothing but wet obscene noises.

"Ahm… mm… nh… *Slrp!* *Smack!*…*Lick!*… *Lick!*… haa…"

"Nnh! Fuu… mnh… tch… 'oes 't 'eel' 'ood?"

"…Yeah…" I pet her head. Honestly, those whole seconds or so must have blanked me out.

"*Smack*… mm, *Slrp!*… mmn… ampf, tch... haah… mm…"

Her tongue twisted around my tip, finding every nook and cranny to stimulate me as she laps on my precum.

"Mm, mmn… *Lick!*… mnh… ah… mm… mmh… haah… *Lick!* *Smack*…"

"…!"

The tip of her tongue started attacking my urethra. Subtle pain and monstrous pleasure shoot up from my spine. These attacks on me leave me helpless...

"Ahm…*Smack* *Slurp!*…*Slrrp!* *Smack!*… *Slurrrp!*… nnm… haa…"

"Mm, haahm… *Lick!*… *Slurp!*…mmh, mn, hmh…*Slrp!*…"

"…Gh!"

Saliva and precum drizzles down on my shaft amplifying the erotic sounds that fills the room. She licked up my shaft, pushed on my tip and poked at my urethra.

"*Smack* mm *Slurp!* *Slurrp!*…*Lick!* *Smack!* *Lick!*…"

I must have dropped my guard. The girl has been licking me non-stop, pushing my ejaculation further.

"Hah, mmn, *Smack!*… mn, har 'ou ahout 'o cum?" she asked as she looks up to me.

"…I am…"

"I 'ee… mm, *Slrp!*…*Slurp!*,mm…"

"*Smack!* *Kiss!*…mm, *Smack!*… *Slurp!*, mm…"

"Nnmh, *Slurp!*…*Smack!* *Smack!* *Slrp!* mm!"

She forcefully sucks me. It felt as if she's trying to wring the ejaculation off of me. Instinctively, I raise my hips, as dull pain slowly builds from the base.

"*Smack!*, *Kiss*… *Slurp!* *Lick!*… mmn… haah… tch, *Slrrp!*…*Lick*, *Smack*…mmph…"

"Ahm, nnh, gh… mn… *Slrrp!* *Slrp!*…haah… mm, mh… ngh… gh… *Smack!*"

"I'm about to cum…!"

"Ahmh… mm… mmn… *Lick!*… *Smack!*, *Smack!*… tch… *Slrp!* *Slrp!*…"

As if swallowing my whole dick, she sucks it with everything and I was overwhelmed by pleasure, shooting inside her mouth with a force.

"Kh!"

"Nnmh…!?"

Surprised by the huge load, Neptune quickly releases her mouth from me. My ejaculation didn't stop as my white liquid flies towards her face and hair. It stuck on her face as it slowly drizzles down.

"Ah… it's so much…*Slurp!* *Gulp!*" she gulps down on semen that trickles towards her lips. I can't really help myself since I'm so backed up.

"…" when I look at her now, face half covered with my liquid, it strangely tickles my sadistic heart.

"Hey…" pleading words.

"…I know…"

With her signal, I give Neptune another long kiss, as I push her down on the bed again. I take the rest of our clothes off and throw them somewhere to the side.

We give each other another long kiss, and once again reverse our positions. Neptune lying on the bed, eyes fixated on mine as I guide my dick towards her wet open slit.

"Nmmh, haa… ah, aaah…"

"…Tight…!"

It's so damn tight. Her insides convulses and contracts on me, sucking me in even without me moving. A nostalgic heat shoots up, and a weird notion of screwing her to the point that she'll submit echoes loudly in my sadistic heart.

"…Mm… *Sniff!*…"

"…Hm?"

Looking at Neptune now small tears streams from her eyes.

"…I'm happy…"

"…For what?"

"…That I get to be close to you again…*sniff!*"

"…I missed you so much… I really, really do…"

"…Whenever, I look at our ring…! I always wish…!"

Putting a hand on her face, I wipe her fat tears with my thumb.

"You know, showing some drama while we're doing it is kinda killing the mood"

"…Hmm! You tease! Lecher! Bully!"

"Haha…" I can't deny that when she pouts she looks absolutely adorable.

Without wasting any time I slowly swing my hips.

"Haa, haaa… aaah…"

Her vagina welcomes me openly as I thrust inside. And with lubrication, the thrusts grow faster and smoother.

"Aanh… haa, nn, nnngh…!"

Neptune's body rocks with each movement. Her moans sweetly fill my ears as I push in and out again and again.

"Haa, kuhh… i-it feels so good…"

She pants heatedly with every thrust I make, she clutches at the bedsheets to she tries to endure the ecstasy.

"Nhaaah, haaah, y-you're hitting it…!"

Slowly shifted my angle a little, consciously hitting her erect clit, amplifying her pleasure to new heights.

"…Feels good, right?"

"M-mhm! It does… it's going… to… drive me… crazy!"

"Ah, haa, haaa, fwaaaaah…!"

Her moans merge into one continuous stream.

"Oh…! Aah…! Oh… aaaah…!"

Making an effort to hit her clit as I do so, I drive my cock toward the entrance of her womb.

"…Wow, you've become seriously wetter…" not like we have enough as is.

"Oh… ohh! Aah… ahhh…"

"…Look, you…" you should really listen to what other people are saying.

"Jared… more… gimme more… Bully me…!" and she demands me to listen to that? I can't help it, really.

"You mean, like this…?" I give her womb another good rubbing.

"Uhhn!"

Her pussy is literally sending a message to cum inside her. Going by this, I go nice and slow this time prolonging myself.

"Mmm… ah… aaaaah… haaaa… that's good… I'm melting…."

Neptune gives a blissful smile as I rub her deep. At this point her brain has already melted into mush.

"…Feels good when we go slow right?"

"Mmm… it feels so goood…"

"…Nepuuu!"

I reach out and play with her clit. I massage it with my thumb, and pinch it with my fingers every once in a while. Her pussy is quivering.

"...Mm… Neptune… you almost there?"

"Yeah… you're so slow… that I can't take it…!"

"…All right"

I pick up the pace, scraping her insides as pull back and almost shove it in when I push in. Wet slapping sounds of flesh fills room and an indicting smell leaves me high.

"…Nn… nnn… nn… nnn… ah… ooh… oh… ahh…"

With regular tempo, I poke her back which she loves so much. Her pussy twitch every time I do so.

"Jared… I'm gonna cum… I'm cumming…!"

"I'm cumming too, Neptune…!"

Her pussy fastens on me, driving me to the point of no return.

"…Guhh…!"

With one last spurt, I drive my dick inside her, and release my second load of the night insider her womb.

"Hyaaa…! Aah…! Aaaaaaaaaah!"

Although it is my second load, I still cum inside her with so much stuff. We both lightly quiver as we enjoy the afterglow of our activity.

"…Haa... haa… Ehe…"

"What's with the smile?"

"…Nothing…" she lightly shakes her head still giving a smile.

"…I really miss you…"

"…I miss you as well…"

"…Ah… You're hard again…"

"Want to do some more? The night is still young" I speak like an old-man.

"…Mhm… But before that… look" she looks at the window. Looking as well, I find the object of our interest.

"The moon is really pretty…"

"It always is…"


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25:

"…It's already morning, huh?"

The sun slowly peaks over the horizon through the window. Around this time, usually some people would go out for a morning run or buy some bread at the store. For some they head to work and swear at their job's ridiculous morning time. For me, I do some exercises, it helps keep me in check of my body and stay fit for any situation. At first is to keep my body shaped, but as time goes on, it feels mostly like my muscles won't react to the way I want it to unless I do so; hence, the reason why it became so obligatory to me.

"…Speaking of exercises…"

" 'Eeee! Aaah! Ah! Nhaaah!' "

Lying on the bed this time, Neptune, in HDD, of course she's naked, is passionately jumping up and down over me. Well, that could be my fault as I am thrusting into her, lifting her up in the air. I then pull back immediately up to the tip and thrust her once more as she falls.

" 'Hyaaaaaaaaaaah! Nhah! Ah! Aaaaaah! Jared! Ja-! Aaaah!' "

"…Guh…"

We've been doing it since last night and since then we haven't stopped for anything. Even when we feel hungry every time we finish a round, we toss it aside and decided to screw rather than eat. I literally have lost count how many times we did it.

" 'Aaaaaaaah! Aaaaaaah! It feels so good! Nhaah! I'm gonna cum again…! Nhaaaah! Ah! Ah!' "

"…!"

Deciding to end our little trip to heaven, I seize hold of her waist, and shove myself up into her, much more rougher than I've ever been to any partner.

-Woops, bad move to remember my past.

" 'Waaah! Ah! Ah! So rough!' "

" 'Hhhgggggh! Ah… 'm cum… Ah… Jared… Jared…! Ah… aaaah… uu… uuu… I'm c…!' "

"…Neptune…!"

She falls on top of me, clinging to me for dear life as I thrust into her rougher and rougher, pushing our last ejaculation of this sex adventure.

" 'Uuuuuuu! I'm cumming! I'm cummmmmming! Aaagh! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!' "

"…Gh!"

" 'Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!' "

Her pussy strangles my dick as I shove everything inside her, releasing cum. Even though this is the X number of times I came, I still have more left in the tank.

Her pussy clamps on me, as I cum still further, sucking everything I have with a force of a vacuum cleaner. She lightly quivers and shakes, her vagina does the same. With an audible plop, my dick comes out of the woman.

"That was a sex ride…" I don't usually last this long even when I'm at the red district.

" '…I can't remember how many times you came inside…' "

"I doubt even I can remember that"

" '…I might get pregnant' " a mischievous smile escapes her.

"I wonder if I'll let you eat vegetables for 9 months now…"

" '…Why would I need to eat those?' "

"So we can have a girl"

" 'Aren't boys want a boy as a child…' "

"Some of us do. And having a girl is kinda convenient. Makes me all heroic…"

" 'You just want the spot light…' "

"Haha… I might…"

Feeling the girl's warmth through our naked bodies, I slowly pet her head. Her breath is so near to me that I can feel the rhythm of how she breathes. It was a calm rhythm, one that might resemble a light ensemble I once heard once upon a time. It was probably from one of those 'times'.

" 'Hey…' " Neptune looks up to me, a warm, wife-esque smiles greets me.

"Yeah?"

" 'I love you' "

"I love you too…" with a smile on her face she reaches towards my crotch and started groping it.

"One more round…?"

" 'Yeah…' " guess another couple or so isn't so bad...

* * *

"You know, now that I think about it, your HDD self has grown a cup huh"

"Ooh! Really! Then what about my normal self?"

"…Want me to say it?" I know that most women are very sensitive about this one topic.

"Mhm! Give it to me good!" you said it woman.

"…You gained a kilo…"

"Guh!" see, I told you. Don't ever mention a girl's weight and age, its bad manners. And it's a turn off when you mention them or even slightly make a suggestion.

"That's so mean! You shouldn't say that when there's a girl around"

"You dug your own grave…"

After doing another couple of rounds, we give ourselves a quick wash and washed our clothes to wear. Right now, we're heading to a certain place that might lead us back to Planeptune. Of course, since I don't know where we are going, I do hope that Neptune doesn't drag me around.

"Where are we headed, and please tell me that you know"

"Silly Jared, of course I know where we are going! We just need to do a lot of walking"

"You sound unmotivated"

"But walking makes me less cute when I'm all sweaty and stuff. Sometimes I just want to be like a cloud…"

"Can't you just fly there?"

"…! Jared you're such a genius! Why didn't I think of that earlier" probably because we were so engrossed in our 'adventure'.

"Okay… Megaforce go!" what the heck is with that pose?

" 'Mhm… I do hope that I can hold out…' " she examines herself.

Neptune's appearance, when transformed, wears something reminiscent what I can remember but with much more stylization and design. Her hair and hair clips remain the same while her bodysuit, while still black, has purple and blue lining all around the torso and arms. The middle of the torso has purple mesh, allowing a vague vertical view of her stomach. She also wears thigh high boots with octagon patterns on the side at the very top; one filled it with purple and another just a white outline.

"Hrm…"

" 'What is it?' " she caught me staring.

"Nothing, admiring how you look damn gorgeous whenever your transform"

" 'You prefer me like this?' "

"I also like your cutesy self when you're in normal as well. Helps with the balance…"

" 'You actually don't have any preferences when comes to me huh' "

"I don't have any since I can accept anything you throw at me" I think there was song for this…

" 'Another cheesy line I presume?' " she gives a light chuckle.

"Another cheesy line"

Strapping my bag on my chest, Neptune walks behind and wraps her arms on my waist. I can feel her breast pressing against my back. With some strength and bit of tightness on her wrap, we both fly high towards the endless blue above.

" 'You good down there?' "

"I'm good, how about your arms?"

" 'I can hold… wait, have you gained some weight?' "

"Preposterous… maybe" I know I do get my exercise right. Maybe because I eat pudding whenever I have the chance to take a break from my work.

" 'Ehe… seems like I'm not the only one that gained something' "

"I really need to pick up on my running" I think 32 kilometers everyday would suffice.

After reaching a safe altitude, she flies of 32 degrees west and with speed that of a calm breeze. Looking ahead, I can see the ocean that extends towards the horizon. It's as if the sea had merged into the sky. It's because of how limited we such marvel things that most of us miss out on a lot of things. When I look around now, Leanbox seem to be a pretty solid nation. It's just an island with a big whitish rather modern-future city in it.

"Hrm… what the heck is that?"

And in the middle of it all, there's a giant building that seems be constructed to from the outlines of an 'X' mark. With the inside are of it being hollow, and has no sides.

" 'I think that's just the city power' "

"I see… Kinda unorthodox just to get some power…"

" 'Vert is like that…' "

"She is…"

Flying towards the gentle horizon, we head towards Planeptune where everyone is waiting…


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26:

"What a retro looking city…" if you ever lived in the 80's and from there watched a movie about space and futurism and more, then you might find Planeptune of this dimension the same effect.

As the elevator rise, both of us watch as the city slowly descends and the people turning into ants. Planeptune of this dimension feels pretty much the same, only is it's retro-futuristic. You know, almost everything is square-ish. It does give a slight nostalgia when we walked towards the Basilicom, I find much more CRT TV's than Flat-Screen ones, even the music that I once heard, like the infamous _Thriller_, is heard all over the damn place. I wouldn't be surprised if a certain wall would fall.

-Of course this isn't the 80's but the theme is.

"You know… if we're going to stay here for a while I might as well hear one of The Beatles sing for me…"

"Beatles can sing! Aww, let's go back down and catch one!" Neptune hurriedly goes for the buttons on the elevator.

"No way" catching her hand, I raise up above her head and she naturally twirls under me.

"…Ooh…" she just twirls and twirls and twirls and twirls and twirls…

"…I'm getting… dizzy~~…" her eyes have lost their focus.

"That's what I wanted…" with a sinister smile on my face, I let her go.

"…Uuuh… the world is spinning~~…" Neptune staggers around. The world is spinning on its axis so it is accurate.

When the elevator stopped with a ding from the speakers, the doors opened and I'm met with a hallway that contains an assortment of colors. Bright and colorful colors, all glitter with rainbow and cheers. The hall is lavished with creamy color and the ceiling is painted with some assortment of flowers, a green carpet on the floor and two doors on each side.

Neptune takes her shoes off and puts them in a shoe rack on the side. Judging from the shoes, I can see that everyone might be here. She takes a white bunny set of slippers and slips her feet in. I follow what she did during all that, mine looks like a bear though. Neptune gestured me to follow her to the end of the hall.

"I'm back!" she announced with glee.

"Ooooh…! Welcome back!" Plutie greeted her.

The room that we are at isn't that bad at all. On my right is a kitchen area that is complete with all its utensils and paraphernalia. Separating the living area is a counter with no chairs on its side. Presumably to keep things organized when cooking. The living area has a large glass sliding door leading to the veranda, opposite of me. Right in the middle of it is a lavishly purple carpet. There are no, sofa's whatsoever but there are pillows here and there. Plus some children toys. There's also a flat-screen TV here as well, with console connected to it, of course.

-There's also another room with a dining table peeking out of open-way at the right, but can't give you the full details about it once I entered there.

"You know…" Neptune looks at the people in the living room with a defiant look. Of course, she's looking at one big breasted woman monopolizing her own sister.

"…Why do you sneak into the Planeptune's Basilicom every single day, Vert?"

Everyone is here, all of them loitering around doing whatever they feel like doing. Of course, they know each other for quite a while so I'm not to complain. But please have the decency to know that all of you are in another person's house.

"As her doting elder sister, I've no choice but to fulfill her every wish"

"No, no… I'm already someone else's little sister… Ugh, please don't squeeze me…!" Nepgear struggles. Her face is almost buried between the valleys of paradise.

"No can do. I won't leave you alone for a single moment"

"Hm~~! If you can't quit her then I'm gonna start hugging her tender-like, too!" Nepgear flies towards the two and hugs Nepgear and all, squeezing the little sister helpless between her two big sisters.

"Owwwww! I can't breathe… Please stop Sis, it hurts…" the little sister struggles fruitlessly.

"Yay! Nep-Sandwich!"

"Let's sandwich, too!"

"And me! And me!"

"Hm…?"

From nowhere, I see three bambinos snail their way towards the sandwich. Two I instantly recognize, one I don't know who. One of the two has short brown hair and a leaf-like accessory on her hair with green eyes to boot. The other one has pink creamy hair and matching congo-pink eyes. The one I don't know has strawberry blonde hair and cerulean blue eyes.

The toddlers cling to Nepgears leg like she was made out of candy.

"Uggghhh… I can't breathe…"

"Neppy Jr. is soooooo popular. She's really lucky…" Plutia says her light jealousy.

"Don't act so jealous. After all, I… you know… Um, you…" Noire seems to want to say something.

"'You have me, don't you?'" Vert seems to have read her mind.

"Ah! I was just about to…"

"Just about to what? Say something embarrassing about friendship?" Blanc's hammered words hits Noire's head.

"Ugh…" she actually cares about those things? That's not the Noire I know. Well this is another dimension after all.

"Hehehe. You two look like best friends when you tease each other…"

"Pardon me…" a cute squeaky voice tickles my ears.

"Hm?" I turn to the being.

"…Who might you be?"

The fairy has medium-length blonde hair in two pigtails tied up with teal ribbons with a purple and white headdress on her head. She wears what seems to be a purple gown along with designs that have orange coloring with a teal bow at the top. Her leg-wear consists of white stockings and purple shoes with pink circles on the center. She also sits on a book and has butterfly wings.

"…A fairy…" the kid inside me rises. If I was 10 years old I might have screamed for joy right about now.

"Come again?" the fairy tilts her head. This fairy is absolutely cute and adorable.

"…Who's you're owner?" I ask with a straight tone.

"Haa? (⊙_⊙)"

"I aaaaaam!" Plutie raised her hand as she runs over to us.

"…How much for her?" I pull out my wallet and started counting. I can just give her the whole wallet though, but then it would cause inflation into the economy.

"Eeeeeh? Histy's not for sale…"

"I'll buy you a tank"

"Oooh! A tank! Okaaaay… one tank for Histy!"

"All right" I pull out a black card and give to her. Money can buy you anything, even a fairy.

"I am not for sale! ( ≧Д≦)" but it seems the fairy does not want that.

"You're already sold"

"Mhm! Mhm! I'd get to buy a tank…!" Plutie twirls away with glee.

"Well, jokes aside…" I don't think that was a joke, right?

"…My name is Jared, an ordinary passerby"

"A passerby? Why do I feel like I've met you before…? (´−｀) ﾝｰ" the fairy thinks deep.

"Ah… I forgot, he introduced himself…" the fairy remembers.

"I'm Histoire, nice to meet you. (*^▽^*)"

"Likewise. If you're asking I'll explain everything later, right now…" I turn my head to the chaos that is ensued.

"Umm… Right. Vert…" Histy caught her target's attention.

"My records say nothing about two girls becoming sisters if they used the same CPU Memory"

"Oh, is that so? It is commonly-known rule in my nation" she acts indifferently.

"That's a lie"

"Hmhmhmm. The truth is in the eye of the beholder" if truth and beauty are in those eyes then that would mean that the world is full of lies and deceit.

"Is that so? Regardless…"

"Come now, Nepgear. Don't be shy. Let me pamper you" Vert continues to squeeze Nepgear between her voluptuous weapons.

"Vert, please let me go… Ugh, they're so soft and they're starting to feel really comfy…"

"Sis just abandoned me and acted cold, so maybe I will let Vert be my new sister…" she's a traitor to her own blood.

"Not cool, Vert! Don't' use your flesh pillows to tempt my sister! Nepgear, get a hold of yourself!" Neptune tries so hard to tug Nepgear to her side.

"Try fixing your garbage of pail personality first. I'm not going to put up with it today!"

"Who wants to hear that from the girl with the most insufferable personality in the universe!?" Noire and Blanc are bickering at each other.

"If you can't play nice… I'll teach you how…" Plutie spoke this time to stop them. I feel the coldness in her tone, which I ignore from breathing through my nose.

"Huh? Oh, no! I'm sorry, really!"

"Sorry. I was out of line, so please…" the two quickly kissed and make up.

"It is nice to things are so lively. This has become the de facto for the CPU's"

"It's called a mess. Like mixing a potato salad with coffee"

"That might be true as well…"

"Truth is in the eyes of the beholder after all" sooner or later, I'm going to get some headache pills.


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27:

Like a spider's web, connections bring more connections. The more people you know, the more people you will eventually know. It's a common thing actually, no one can live alone. No matter if we try to shove away everyone and don't give them a second glnce, human nature to socialize with others will always dominate your actions. Isolation also brings connection, only is, it is a much more slower.

"…And that's how I ended back here. Pretty good stuff, if I do say so myself" everyone stayed quiet after that.

"Hwoo… Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap"

"Mhm! Mhm! That's Jared alright, always doing crazy things!" the other two, Plutie and Neptune, are unfazed.

After watching their show of frolicking for a while, I wait until the little toddlers are asleep and sat myself to explain more. I know they have more questions to bother me. And since I'll have to explain myself to Mini-Histy here, I figured it's good to hit two birds with one stone.

"Wait, wait, wait, a black hole!? That's totally impossible!" Noire states the obvious.

"Of course I did turn into spaghetti after I pass the event horizon. And I lost consciousness when my 'being' touched the singularity"

"A human spaghetti!" Plutie is shocked.

"Yup, I was covered in spaghetti sauce, slice hotdogs and cheese"

"Eh? Wouldn't carbonara be better?" Neptune, what are you thinking?

"So… what happened to your own dimension? （⌒▽⌒ゞ" Mini-Histy asked with awkwardness.

"…Dunno. But…" I close my eyes and cross my arms. I do some quick, heavy calculations in my head as to how much the acceleration the black hole I made would release its hawking radiation. The answer came to me three seconds after.

"Hm... They're fine, although CERN is probably destroyed…" ALICE was the center of it after all, and the LHC was still pumping it energy. France and Switzerland would have a huge debate of their hands about that huge crater in there...

"I see… but may I ask as to how you became Neptune's fiancée?" again with that.

"Oh come on, Histy! Isn't it obvious, we're all lovey dovey and stuff and do all kinds of lovey dovey stuff!" Neptune clings to my arm as she proclaims.

"Still… (-_-)"

"We can't quite picture it well…" Vert added.

"…It's like marrying a plumber with a stupid Monkey Kong…" Blanc also added.

"Eeeeh? So Jarey is a monkey…?" Plutie asked.

"That's right! He can climb trees, swing on vines and say 'hohohoho!'" don't patronize her, Neptune.

"…then can I ask when the wedding is?" Mini-Histy asked.

"We actually don't have any plans at the moment"

"We gotta save that stuff at the end of every story, right?" don't raise death flags woman.

"Um… Sis, aren't you setting up death flags? Not like I want it to happen though…" Nepgear asked. I'm surprised that she even asked that.

"I don't die that easily…" I whisper under my breath. Neptune slightly tightens her wrap on my arm.

"This is getting more and more ridiculou… Ababababababababa! (((( ;°Д°))))"

"'Abababababa?'" what kind of ritual song is that? I don't think the Naga tribe ever sang like that.

"Goodness, Histoire are you okay?" worried Nepgear is worried.

"Don't worry my little worry wart Sis! It just means that…!"

As Neptune about to finish that sentence, a holographic screen popped up large enough for all of us to see. And with it is the face of the 'mature' version of Histy.

"_Sorry for calling out of the blue. But it seems I don't need to worry…_" Big-Histy smiled.

"Oooh, Big-Histy you're here! Look, look I'm going to get married!" a happy Neptune is happy.

"_Yes, I can see that. It was a worth the risk, right?_"

"Well, I am a passerby after all…" I shrug.

"_That you are, now onto the issue at hand_" what's with the unnecessary silence?

"_The pathway that Nepgear travelled on can only be traveled by one person at a time_" oh…

"If Neptune used it to return home, then that would be the end of it" I added.

"…But this chick used it" Blanc calmly said.

"Hehehehe… I'm so sorry…" right, right, Nepgear. We can't cry over spilled milk now.

"Nepgear, you're usually the brightest match in the box, but other times your head snaps off!" her big sister said.

"_Hmm. Now I must find a way to make path that three people may cross_"

"I'll do it for you, I can probably make it in a day or two"

"_The offer is tempting but you already done enough as is. You've been through so much, I believe_"

"Hrm…" well, I do want to rest to a bit.

"…What about the Citizens Group? They'll be a huge pain in the arse…"

"_You've already given us a huge help with that. Let us women deal with it_" a bright motherly smile, she gave. And hooray for gender equality.

"*Sigh*… All right, I'll take some time off. But seriously, the Citizen Group will plan a huge revolution if it keeps up, stay on your toes"

"_We will. Now onto another issue…_" is there another one now?

"_Have you had any headaches?_" oh, that…

"…" Neptune grips my arm ever so tightly. I hold her hand in return.

"No" I firmly answer.

"_Then you would be fine, for now. But if anything happens, please make a call_"

"I will…" she's acts like a mother that I never had. I kinda want to cry in her arms right now.

"_Good. Now, everyone please take care of these three_" her voice sounded stiff to the two.

"All right, since I'm Nepgear's big sister she's safe under my arms" Vert suddenly pulls Nepgear towards her valleys.

"V-Vert…! Goodness, it's getting soft!"

"Vert! Stop monopolizing my little Sis!" Neptune joins on the two.

"_All right, sorry for the sudden call_" the call ends.

"…She seems to trust you" Blanc commented.

"Yeah… that's because I'm a passerby"

"So where will you be staying? The Planeptune Basilicom doesn't have that many rooms" Noire asked.

"How do you know that? Getting a little desperate to get some friends?" I teasingly asked.

"Eeh? Noire isn't that desprate…" Plutie said.

"Plutia…"

"Mhm! She's very desperate!" Neptune proclaimed.

"You…!"

"…Hehe, sometimes the idiots have something good to say" a smirk from Blanc.

"For someone who doesn't any friends until now, you're sure one to talk" Noire bickered.

"At least I have Plutia now, unlike you"

"Grrrrr!"

"Grrrrr!" lightning shoots from their eyes.

"Awww… you can share me, if you like" Plutie offered.

"Don't Plutie, this is a fight where they need to capture you're heart, even though they're women" I stop her.

"Eeeh? So they're going to confess to me" why are you blushing?

"Aren't they entering a forbidden love? (・_・ヾ"

"Love knows no bounds" I replied the fairy.

"Mhm! Even if our one and only are a dimension away" I pet Neptune head.

"But, don't you think you're neglecting your sister?" I remind her.

"Eh?" Nepgear has stopped squirming under Vert's voluptuousness.

"Nep Jr! Don't sleep with a grin on her face!"

"But… it's so soft…Ehehe…"

"Hmhmhm… you're going to be mine…"

"Kya! Don't steal my little Sis!" she scrambles towards the two.

"Never a dull moment…" I comment.

"…So, where will you be staying? All our rooms have already be taken （￣□￣；）"

"Can't he sleep in my room instead?" Plutie suggested.

"Absolutely not" Noire and Blanc chorused.

"You two are so mean…!"

"Where does Neptune sleep?" I ask,

"She sleeps with Plutie (-_-"

"We always sleep together!"

"I can sleep in this room. There are pillows here so I can manage"

"I think we have an extra set of covers around my room (^～^)"

"All right Thanks for that" I thank Mini-Histy as my eyes fall on the digital clock on one corner of the room.

"have you eaten lunch yet?" I ask them all.

"Nah Uh, and we're getting hungry" Plutie aske

"So as thanks for letting me stay. Allow me to cook something nice" everyone nodded.

Without much delay from me, I stand up and head behind the counter. Now what am I going to cook for lunch?

* * *

_A/N: Sorry for the delays in my chapters recently. I got a new shift in my work since I just recently enrolled once more (trisemestral college). I'm trying to worm my schedule with my fanfic so hopefully you loyal HDN fans understand._


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28:

"Ugh…"

"…"

"Again with the silence, girls? What was my cooking that awful?" maybe my xao bo, a Vietnamese cuisine, isn't in their repertoire.

"It is awful…" Vert said. Damn, that hurts.

"…it's awful" Noire added.

"…Awfully good…" Blanc added that last part.

"Jarey's food is so good!"

"I haven't eaten his lovely food like forevers!"

With our lunch done, it is time to clean the dishes. Nepgear and I are the sink and washing this mountain of plates. She's doing all the rinsing and I am doing the actual washing. Fortunately the sink is by the counter, meaning we're facing the living room now as we wash and listening in to their conversation.

"Awwww… Neppy's so lucky!"

"Mhm! He's the best guy that I ever need" Neptune said.

"*Sigh*… How come you of all people get to have a guy like him?" Noire facepalmed.

"…The world is always mysterious" nice one Blanc.

"But, we can't deny that his cooking is delicious. Mind if I borrow him, Neptune?"

"I'm not a toy…" I mumble to myself as I put a soaped plate to the side. Nepgear chuckled.

"No way! He's mine! And I'll handcuff him with me"

"That's even w… no, it's better" I mumble yet again. It is better to get handcuffed with her, but it's going to be a pain when we both need to get separated for reasons.

"Hmhmhm~ but can you actually satisfy him?"

"Sad-is-fry?" Plutie cocks her head in question.

"I heard that men now a days look at a woman's breast now" a sinister smile from Vert.

"…So that's where you're followers came from"

"And the reason why Vert, has followers in the first place" Blanc and Noire made side comments.

"At least I have something to attract people, right?" Vert 'lightly' brandishes her chest.

"You…!" an angry Blanc is angry.

"Hehe… Blanc is so cute when she's jealous" Plutie said.

"…Mhm…" why are you blushing, woman?

"Speaking of cuteness, who are those toddlers earlier?" I ask, as I now take a plate from Nepgear's side and wipe it a sponge full of soap.

"You wouldn't believe who those three are!" I think I know Neptune.

"…They're our children!" Plutie answered before Neptune get to say anything.

"Hrm…" I overclock my brain…

'Our' is a possessive adjective, meaning that she is referring to a group that includes her. Then, that would mean that the toddlers are connected to her in some way, hence being possessive. But 'our' is plural, and Neptune and Plutie are best friends, I already knew that seeing as how they act together, so…

"Neptune, I didn't know you swing that way…"

"Nepu?" her head cocks to one side.

"I mean, having children and all, with a girl to boot…"

"Oooh…That's right, its Neppy's and mine's children!"

"Nepu! Don't make stupid accusations mister! I'm a perfectly normal girl! And don't add fire to that Plutie!"

"Eeeh? They're not our children?" Plutie seems disheartened.

"…At the very least, they're not _your _children" Blanc interjected.

"That's harsh! I can take care of children just fine!"

"Would wrestling with them a part of that as well?" Noire asked.

"P-ko is just too strong. She has a strength stat of 9000"

"You honestly expect anyone to believe that a baby has that?"

"Because you aren't listening to the really dangerous sound effects whenever we play"

…Okay, they left me out of the conversation fast. And I'm still washing something? How many are we going to wash? Gesturing Mini-Histy to come to me, she floated towards us and sat herself on the granite counter top.

"…So, whose kid is those three? Did someone other than me touch my girl?" I'll cut his dick off slowly before I torture him.

"No one touched anyone. (･ω･;)" oh, damn it. Guess I'll put off my killing spree another time.

"As our response to the disappearing children cases, we will act as a daycare for now"

"Disappearing children? Kidnapping?" I instinctively lower my voice.

"We don't actually know yet. But we do get reports..." Nepgear replied.

"Hrm…" I don't think children will be spirited away without a word. This is kidnapping through and through.

"*Sigh*… So we're taking care of, what? 4 children now?"

"Why 4?" Nepgear asked.

"Neptune…" she does act like a kid in drugs.

"Um… Sis is… She does act like one…" Nepgear was about to defend her sister but instead dropped it.

"So being a daycare center, I imagine we have to give them education and all, right?"

"That's right…" Histy answered.

"…But where are their parents? We are called a daycare after all" hence, day and care.

"Um… Well… (︶︹︶)"

"Stop, let's drop it" I can already tell. And we should be an orphanage not a daycare.

"And… oh, we're done?" I noticed that Nepgear isn't handing anymore plates now.

"Yes, this time you rinse the plates now"

"And you put them on the rack" both of us perform the last of hour cleaning.

"As I am about to say, baby Iffy and baby Compa are adorable little twerps"

"Oh, I forgot that you came from their older self. (￣ω￣;)"

"…And who's the yellow baby?" I ask as I give Nepgear a newly rinsed plate.

"Ah, that one's name is Peashy. But Sis calls her P-ko"

"What an extravagant nickname…"

"She's the energetic among the three!" the little sister added.

"I see… One more question, and I'm not boasting, but you have any experience of raising a child?" I direct my question to the two, since the rest are frolicking again.

"Um… I think it's something we have to learn over time, right?"

"That's what I thought too…" Nepgear and Histy respectively answered.

"Well, raising a child is a learning experience for both parties, after all"

"True… do you have any experience in raising one, Jared? (^～^;)ゞ" Jared, huh? Seems she's getting comfortable around me.

"I do actually…"

"Eeh!?" Nepgear reacts.

"No, no. It's not what you are thinking…" she thought I cheated on her Sis.

"It was once upon a time though…" I feel another heavy toll in me.

"I see…" a dry smile from the little sister.

"Was it hard? Raising a child?" Mini-Histy asked instead.

"Absolutely hard. Kids don't think the way adults do. So understanding them is a huge level gap"

"Fortunately for us, we have Neptune that's not remotely adult in a sense"

"And they're so full of energy that you just get tired just from that" I grimace over my past.

"Sounds rough…" a dry smile from Nepgear.

"That's not all, they are curious to the core that you have to watch them even you want to go the toilet. If you take your eyes off them for even a second they're gone just like that" I even wonder why they won't listen to us at all.

"That sounds like you were being toyed around with.(⌒▽⌒)"

"What is she doing now?" Nepgear asked.

*SQZ!*

"…"

"Jared?"

"Ah, sorry, sorry. Let's drop this for now…" it really does take a lot in me to talk about my past.

"And in any case, I would hardly call that as experience anyway…"

"Why?" Histy asked.

"I only took care of her for about…6 months or so. Not enough ample time to teach a kid how to dress properly without telling them to"

"I see… so it's a learning experience for you too. (＾▽＾)"

"I guess so… so much for that talk earlier though… hm? No more plates…?" I absentmindedly look for more plates to rinse with my hand. Time flies so fast when you're having fun huh.

"Oh well, that just means that we're doing our job effectively" I mumble to myself.

"Fine! Jared will show all of you that he can beat all you three!" Neptune's voice suddenly hits my ears.

"Sounds good, I wanted to test his skills anyway since that time" Noire said.

"Yes, I wanted to know how much of a man he really is too" Vert added.

"…For once, we agree on something" Blanc added.

"How nice… They're getting along now" Plutie said.

"Geez, you're all going to regret not believing great-Neptune's prophecy!"

"Say what?"


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter 29:

Aah… good winds, a warm sun signaling spring, and a beautiful greenish scenery that extends over the horizon. There are even mountains in the background that fits well with the blueish sky. And if I look back, a blue-esque, city of Planeptune is at hand. One would appreciate simple things like this. A simple country side is good.

"I would… but…" looking at the group of girls in front of me, I'm surprised that the tension hasn't blown up the world yet.

Apparently, for obvious reasons, Neptune openly told them that I can beat any douche that comes in my way. Of course, I am a passerby not a fighter. But instead, the girls, except for Plutie, considered it as an opportunity to "test" me. There is never a dull moment when you're with Neptune, especially when you're her fiancée.

Of course we left Mini-Histy back that Planeptune tower. It would be disastrous if the infants woke up and cry. I also left some porridge and some fresh warm milk if ever they wake up.

"*Sigh*…I'll treat this as a workout to remove my extra weight that Neptune noticed" in all honesty, I didn't know that I was gaining weight in the first place.

"So… are you ready to fight or what?"

"You'll regret that in no time at all, Noire! Jared can beat you with a twig!" Neptune, stop. Please.

"Oooh! He'll smack the big bad Noire!" Plutie, stop. Please.

"…I expect that to happen" Blanc…

"Isn't the cocky ones always get to eat their own medicine" Vert...

"What does that mean!? I'm not going to lose when I don't hold back!"

"…That's what we both said"

"And we lost graciously…" Blanc and Vert added.

"That's because… well… um…"

"So Noire is going to lose first huh? Not like I expect anything from her"

"Um… Don't worry Noire, even if you lose at least you win at life, as they say…" what the hell kind of comfort are you giving her Nepgear?

"Yay, life!" Plutie clapped her hands.

"Sometimes Nepgear says the most insulting things!" Neptune, stay quiet. Please. Now.

"…I didn't mean that as an insult though"

"Okay, okay. Stop, for two seconds. Please. Why, in the name of fair and square, am I fighting again?"

"Because you're strong, don't let me down lover boy!" Neptune… when we get back, I'm going to… *Sigh*…

"Mhm! I want to see Noire lose"

"Don't cut me off the match early on!"

"…They left me out again, huh?" just how deep of a friendship do they have anyway?

"Anyway, are you ready to fight or what?" Noire shouted.

"No" although saying that doesn't mean anything now.

"…Then when?" Blanc asked.

"Never"

"That won't do. If you don't want to fight, then we won't acknowledge your marriage with Neptune" Vert said. Are you seriously using that under handed tactic?

"Isn't it because you want to stop me from being Nepgear's brother-in-law?"

"O-oh right… I'll be his in-law once Sis gets married…"

"You'll be really lucky to have him as your brother-in-law, Nep Jr!"

"How lucky… I want to be Neppy Jr.'s sister-in-law too!"

"…I don't think that works like that" Nepgear said.

"Well, I also want to be Nepgear's older sister too. But not as an in-law"

"Vert, please stop your attempts to steal Nepgear" you do know that you can't

"Hmhmhm~ She's already mine…"

"V-Vert, please…! I already have a big sister!"

"Look, are we here to play around or test him out?" Noire voiced out her concern.

"…Why don't we start first. They won't get the message if there's no one to make the first step" Blanc suggested. I can hear the eagerness from her. I'm really going to fight aren't I?

Without a second too soon, Noire and Blanc glowed brightly, until they are a white silhouette. Their forms change dramatically as the light receded.

Blanc's HDD form remains mainly the same as the other one. The only main difference is that it reflects her color scheme from pale blue to red. Her attire has shiny red material on the top, segments, and lining. The fingers of her gloves are black. She has multiple red box-like pieces on her chest and neck and her lower region, covering her groin, is completely red colored. And the bottom of her boots resembles sandals with a red coloring and is black on bottom.

Noire's HDD form is somewhat different than the other one. While her bangs remain the same, her hair is now worn in very long pigtails at the top of her head with metal gray and black pieces, most likely to match her normal hairstyle. She wears a gray bathing suit piece with multiple black marks and lining and tiny red and green glow spots. Her breast are more revealed then previous but with thin black straps connecting to her neck piece. The black gloves have many gray marks and a metal device around both wrists. The leg/boot pieces are tall and gray, with big circled cuff pieces at the ankle, and big circle pieces with smaller red circles. The boots have a pointed toe.

" 'Look, if you're guys aren't going to fight. Then we will' "

"Noire, take tip, don't overwork yourself"

"That's right…! You're always taking things so seriously…" Plutie added her testimony.

"I always told the other Noire not to work her butt off. And look where she is now…"

"A popular goddess" I added.

"…Lo-… Yeah, very popular…" you're planning something under that monotone of yours.

" 'Hey, big tits. Get transforming already so we can actually start this!' "

"It seems I can't really say no to this now…" Vert glowed…

Vert's HDD appearance also changes due to being in another dimension. Her hair remains the same, but seems to have lengthened somewhat and is much spikier now than before. She wears a bathing suit black piece with her arms fully covered, as are her legs. Her entire front is exposed, except for her lower region, and the exact center of her breast. Around each wrist is a glowing green ring segment, while at her neck, hips, feet, and on top of the glove is a glowing green circle.

" 'After all, a woman has to keep up appearances' " she lightly jiggle her racks.

" 'This is no good. C'mon Nepgear, you transform too' "

"Should I really participate in this? I don't think fighting him will prove anything though"

"C'mon Nep. Jr! You'll get to know you're future brother-in-law better!"

"Well…"

"How about this, if you fight him, you'll get to go on a date with me!" what the hell kind of manipulation are you doing, woman?

"D-Date!?" and she's taking it in full?

"Mhm! Just the two of us!"

"A date with Sis…" don't think about it, and don't blush over it!

"Alright!" Nepgear glows…

Nepgear's hair becomes pink with a different hair clip that is white and blue to replace the D-pad hair clip. Her eyes become dodger blue in color and wears a white skintight bodysuit with light purple designs and light purple N's on the backhand part of her gloves along with matching thigh high boots.

"You hardly change…"

" 'I do get that a lot' "

"Yeah, but that's my li'l Sis' charm! It's comforting around her"

" 'Thanks for that, Sis!' "

"Hey, hey… can I transform too? I feel so jealous about you guys transforming" Plutie asked, as if she wants to eat the same candy as everyone else in her class.

" 'I don't know about you transforming but…' "

" 'Yeah, I would feel sorry for him' " Noire and Blanc said.

" 'B-but she'll transform right after this though' " Nepgear said nervously.

" 'What's the harm? If Neptune claims him to be as it is then he would at least take care of her just fine' "

"Hey! Don't whisper behind our backs!" Neptune said.

"Neppy! I want to transform too!"

"W-well I wouldn't really recommend it but…" Neptune looks at me with nervousness.

"Jared you love me, right?"

"No questions asked" and why are you asking now?

"Uuuh… Getting a straight answer, I don't know if you can take it…"

"Take what?" a question mark floats above my head.

" '…Hmhmmm~ Like this my dear Neppy?' "

"Neeepuuu! She's s here! She's here!" Neptune panics.

"…" I look at the new face in town.

Plutie had just transformed. Her hair becomes a brighter, dark purple color and lengthens somewhat as it's pulled out of its braid. Her bangs remain the same, though longer and tend to cover her eyes easily. Her eyes seem to be the same shade of pink but are much more squinted. She wears a black HDD outfit with pink accessories. Consisting of a tank top like bustier piece with very thin straps and button-like pieces with multiple holes in the center, a neck piece with a glowing line and pink line below it, small straps connecting to her bikini bottom piece, almost shoulder length gloves with multiple pink pieces, and long boot like parts connecting to the outfit by the outer piece. She also has on pink and black thin earrings.

Other than her appearance I feel a certain maliciousness emanating from her. If I were some sort of system that can rate her danger level, she'd be a level 7 or 9 danger. It's like her presence demands everyone to kiss her feet and become human carpets.

" 'Hmhm~… Now that I got a good look at you, you're really cute…' " the woman, with a sadistic smile came to me and feels my cheek.

"Nepu! She's taking my Jared away from me!"

" 'Nothing we can do about that' " Noire silently replies.

" 'Since you're cute, I want you to become my pet…' "

"No" I firmly answer.

" '…' "

" '…' "

" '…' "

" '…' "

"…"

" '…' "

What's with the silence? Was it an unspoken rule to not say 'no' to this woman?

" 'Hmhmhm~ You've got balls to say no to me…!' "

"Look, Plutie…"

" 'Plutie…? Why would you call me that as if I'm your equal?' " another sadistic smile.

" 'You will call me Madam Goddess, boy!' " she raised her hand and brings it down. While a katana, with segments that then extends like a whip, appears on her hand and falls down from above. I lean my body to the left avoiding such an attack.

*BAM!*

"Right, right. _Madam Goddess_…*Sigh*… This is really not a good start of a beautiful friendship" oh well, let it be what must be.

"…" jumping back a few paces away, I take an unorthodox stance and face the 5 goddesses.

"…Without much ado… Let's party!"


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter 30:

"…!"

*BAM!*

I leaned my body to the side avoiding Blanc's swing of her axe to me. The axe hits the ground and dug itself. Vert thrusts her lance, I go under and use my left forearm to deflect the attack upward. Once I've got a good footing, I grab hold of the spear with my right hand. I hold her wrist and with my thumb I press it down on a certain 'sweet spot'. I drill my thumb on it.

" '…KH!' "

She let's go of the spear involuntarily and I catch it with my right hand. I take one more step, spin, and hit her solar plexus with my left elbow. She staggering backwards as she holds her stomach, I position the spear behind me and block an attack.

*BANG!*

*CLASH!*

Looking behind me, it was Noire that struck me. Seems she thought it was a good attempt as I can feel the air rushes from my back as she just broke the sound barrier earlier. I turn and jump back as I draw a circle with the spear, parrying the futuristic badass broadsword of hers to the side.

" 'YAAAAH!' "

I lean to the side avoiding another thrust attack. This time it was from Nepgear. Ooh, nice a futuristic looking gun blade.

*SCHWING!*

" 'Wa…!' "

I turn and hop to the same direction that I was leaning on. As I do, I deflect her weapon upward. I can clearly see the shock on her face. But since she's in her HDD form, she's much more confident. She tightened her grip on her weapon and brings the barrel part of her weapon pointing towards me.

*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*

With this close of a range, I duck under and bring myself towards her. With a ready spear, I thrust it towards her. When I do, all my senses are throwing warning signals at me.

"Damn…!" I jump back avoiding a sword-whip from whipping me.

" '…! Th-That was close…!' " Nepgear was relieved.

" 'Aww… I missed. I would have heard Nepgear's wonderful scream…' "

" 'Ahahaha…' " a dry laugh escapes from the girl.

" 'And you boy. You're quite a hard to get huh?' "

"Hey, I'm an engaged man. Can't have myself hitting on another woman"

" 'Hmmm? Then you I can do you if Neppy's not looking right?' " I did not imply that. And I did not say anything for you to play with my words.

"Nepu! Don't you be cheating on me, I'm watching you mister!" Neptune shouted from the small forest a few meters away, probably a way of hiding from the dominatrix.

" 'While you're talking…!' "

" '…we'll finish you off!' "

" 'YAAAH!' "

*BANG!*

Nepgear and Noire have both of their weapons pointed at me from above as they both break the sound barrier. I'm not sure about Nepgear being all serious on all this but judging from that face, she is serious. With a side step, I avoid Nepgear's attack.

*CLASH!*

I block Noire's sword. She pushed even more, using gravity to add more force.

" 'Got you now!' "

Right in front me is Blanc readying her weapon for an uppercut attack. Damn, and she's a tad faster than her counterpart. She flies towards me with speed bordering of sound. And it took only moments before she got close.

I jump back, still blocking Noire's sword with the handle of the spear, dodging Blanc's attack by a hair's length.

*CLASH!*

In turn, the axe hits the spear hard. Noire had just retracted her attack, resulting in my arms flying upward and letting go of the spear from the impact. Noire had returned, and about to swing her sword towards me. Nepgear is on point at the other side, pointing the barrel of her gun blade at me.

" 'Now…!' "

*BANG!*

Vert had caught her spear from above, and is now ready for a thrust. From behind me, Madam Goddess had repositioned herself and has her sword whip at the ready. Crap, I'm in a pinch...

"NEPTUNE!" I shout.

Feeling an object right by my hand, I grab hold of it without reserve. Vert thrusts her spear and Noire swung her sword. I jump and twists in a 540 degree fashion as parry Noire's sword and dodge Vert's thrust.

" '…GH!' "

I perform a reverse kick at the end of the 540 spin straight in the face. She stumbles to the side with pained face as she holds it. I jump, spin again and perform a 360 round kick.

" 'Kh!' "

Noire blocked it with her forearm. I quickly retract my leg and perform a 360 reverse kick with the same leg on the other cheek. I hit her hard and she falls over Vert.

*CLASH!*

" 'What!?' "

Not forgetting I have a katana on my hand, I block an attack behind me. Judging by how heavy the attack was, I think it was Blanc. She keeps on pushing me down.

"…!"

" 'Now you two!' " she shouted to the two remaining.

*BANG!* *BANG!**BANG!* *BANG!*

" 'Hmhm… I demanding Blanc can be nice of once…' "

*SHWIIIIING!*

Bullets and a whip fly towards me. I quickly twist my body, avoiding the bullets as well, and swing my sword diagonally upward as I face Blanc.

*CLASH!*

The block pushes her backwards. As I was about to take a step and rain her with blows, my feet caught something.

"Shit…!"

" 'I got you now, boy!' "

"…!"

Madam goddess snaps the whip sword, pulling me upwards and towards her with jerk from the foot. My eyes dart back and forth trying to find a way out of this. Then I see that in between of the segments of her sword whip is a spinal cord-esque part that connects those.

I quickly cut off the segment and surprisingly I was able to. I feel the pulling force had decsreased but because of inertia I'm still hurling myself towards Madam goddess with speed. I acrobatically change my posture and ready a back kick as an offering for the Madam.

" 'Wha… Guh!' "

The moment my foot made contact on her abdomen, I quickly use her as a platform and twisted myself, and raised my other foot over her head.

" 'Guh!' "

I give her a heel drop kick on her head, with a loud thud too. I land on the ground and jump back a few paces away. And duck as I an axe was about to decapitate me.

" 'What!?' "

"Figured as much…" one would not be able to resist attacking an enemy that has his back turned.

Straightening my free hand as if it were a knife, I turn to her and give herher stomach a good chopping.

" 'Kuh!' "

With quickness, I also chop her in the eyes, temporarily blinding her. I then twist my body and perform a reverse kick to her head. She falls to the ground on the side.

"Woops!" I quickly sidestepped and avoid a beam of light that was coming after me. It was from Nepgear's gun blade.

"Woah!" I side stepped again avoiding another one. She points to me one more time.

"Fuh! Fuh! Fuh! Fuh! Whoo! C'mon!" I do some shadow boxing and taunt them all to come to me. Which everyone had already risen.

" '_haa… haa… _I didn't expect him to be this good…' " Vert said as she picks up her lance from the side.

" 'Yeah… he seems to be good at kicking as well…' "

" 'Whoa… He dodged my multiple beam launcher…' " Nepgear said her surprise.

" 'What is he anyway!? He's going against 5 CPU's and he's able to do all that...!' "

"I told you, you can't beat him! He's way too cool for you ladies!" Neptune, please stop adding more kerosene into the fire.

" 'Shut up! What the hell is up with him anyway? It's like he doesn't take this seriously?' " Blanc shot back.

" 'Yeah… all his attacks doesn't feel threatening, even though it does look that way…' "

" 'Why don't you admit that hurts…' " Vert suggested to Noire.

" 'Guh! It doesn't hurt at all! I'm more resilient when I'm this form!' "

" 'Hm~~? I don't mind seeing Noire crying…! It makes me feel ecstatic' "

" 'When did you get up!?' " Noire asked.

" 'Um… Are you okay?' " Nepgear asked in concern, although her tone is full of a person having PTSD.

" 'That's cute, Neppy Jr. Being concerned of me and everything. Should I give you an _award_?' " a sadistic smile escapes from her again.

" 'Although... I'm not happy being pushed around. I want to be all the pushing and hearing you scream for hurting me…' " the air got a bit colder.

" 'Gh…! Why has the air gotten colder a bit…?' " Blanc noticed.

" 'Th-This is turning out to be more than we anticipated…' " Vert added.

" 'Brrr~~! Why does for some reason… it's getting more and more colder…' "

" 'Y-Yeah… Brrrrr~!' " Nepgear and Noire shivered.

" 'You will pay for what hitting me, right?' " the air seems to be getting colder with each word she speaks. And this is getting more and more suggestive that I'm way more worried at another woman who wants to shoot laser beams from her eyes.

"No"

" 'Aah…' " the shivering girls stand in shock.

" 'Ahahaha! So you're an M hm? So you want to be beaten down and get to the point is that it?' " Seriously. This woman has issues with the whole dominatrix thing. And there's a reason why I can resist her… dark aura.

" 'Don't expect any more foreplay~! Aha!' "

*FWING!* *CRACK!*

The dominatrix whipped the air with her sword-whip. It cracks the air loudly as the tip broke the sound barrier. It then returns to an ordinary sword…

" 'C'mon you girls or would you want to join him in his punishment? That's good for me as well…!' " she beckons the other girls.

" 'Gh! Y-Yeah… We'll give him a piece of our mind!'" Blanc stuttered at first.

" 'You don't need to tell me…' "

" 'Hmph, we were going to do that anyway…!' "

" 'Sh-Should I really… But I get to go on a date with Sis so I'll do my best!' " what a goal Nepgear.

Oh well, I really wanted to end this battle as soon as possible. I ready my sword in front of me.

"…C'mon, ladies! Let's tango!"

*BANG!*


	31. Chapter 31

Chapter 31:

" 'Now!' "

" 'YAAAAH!' "

*BANG!*

Noire and Blanc charged at me from the left and the right. They got dangerously close and I jump back avoiding both of them, their weapons clash against each other.

*CLASH!*

I move forward once more and swing my sword diagonally upward. Their weapons were deflected upwards.

*CLASH!*

*BANG!*

*CLASH!*

*RRRRRRRRRRR!*

Vert flies towards me and thrusts her spear. I block it, supporting my sword from the force. She pushed me back despite me holding my ground.

*SCWHING!*

I parry her spear by drawing a circle then step back and ready my sword. As I thrust it towards her and she jumped upward. What replaces her is Nepgear about to strike me. I stop myself and performed a fade away slash.

*CLASH!*

Our weapons collided as my feet gain steady footing on the ground. We both step back and attack relentlessly.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

Nepgear and I attack at each other. Our swords made sparks all around us as our weapons clash against each other.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

I have to say, her unique sword style is kinda clumsily good. Not the most efficient style but it does deliver some blows.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

Nepgear's attack has gotten more stronger. It sends vibrations with every clash our sword makes and slowly loosens my grip on the sword.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* - *CLASH!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*

Nepgear jumps back and fires with the gun part of her weapon. I quickly deflect them all.

*BANG!*

From behind her, Vert, Blanc and Noire had charged themselves towards me. Oh, the nostalgia…

" 'Don't forget about playing with me too, boy!' "

From behind me Madam goddess is also racing down toward me. Meaning, I got 3 upfront and one dangerous one at back. Vert flies in first…

*CLASH!*

She swung her spear and my sword connects to it. She quickly rectracts her weapon and thrust it towards my gut.

*CLASH!**CLASH!**CLASH!* *CLASH!*

She thrusts thrice and swung it toward my neck. I block those, of course. Her spear technique is also quite good.

" 'YAAAAH!' "

Blanc came up from Vert's side and swings her axe upward. I quickly guide my sword to block her attack.

*CLASH!*

"Gh!"

The attack sent me back a few paces away, sending me nearer to the madam goddess behind me. She sends her sword-whip hurling towards me.

" 'Don't forget about me!' "

Noire is right in front of me and a sword about to strike me. I can't maneuver my way out of this as Noire will counter that. Stepping backwards is also a bad move in itself. If I block and dodge, Madam goddess their will do something about as well. Dammit!

I raise my sword in front of me and block Noire's attack. With my free hand, I catch the whip. My hand bled as I caught the blade part as not the spinal part.

"Damn… I really don't want to get wounded…" guess, I'll just put my hand in my pocket as we go back.

I reverse the hold of my sword, retract it and thrust it towards Noire.

*CLASH!*

She fends it off with the side of her sword. I push her away with the tip of the sword. I then pull Madam goddess towards me and swing my swords towards her head. She leans back avoiding the attack.

" 'Aha… You're pretty aggressive…' " yeah, she's a psychotic sadistic bitch when she transformed. I better take note of this.

" '…!' "

I punch her forearm with my equipped hand and she let's go of her weapon involuntarily. With snap from my hand, the sword reassembles itself and is now being held by the tip. I flip the sword and catch the handle.

*CLASH!*

" 'What are you!?' " Blanc shouted. Clearly irritated.

"Just an ordinary passerby!"

I tilt the sword to the ground and the axe slides down to it. I swung and miss with the stolen sword that I got from Madam goddess. Blanc had just retreated and has joined the 4 upfront.

" 'You're going to pay with your body to steal my sword from me, boy!' " Madam goddess lunges from behind me.

"Here, have it back…" I toss the sword high and towards her. She has a surprised look on her face for only a second.

I charge in towards her before she even realizes it. Once she did, I'm already dangerously close to her. I swing my sword.

*CLASH!*

She blocks my attack. But I still keep pushing.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

I attack her without giving her a second to fight back. She blocks all of them as she steps back.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

I push her around as I keep on attacking her. Her face cringes every now and then.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* - *CLASH!*

Seeing that I'm not going anywhere with this, I take a step and performed a two- step round house slash causing her to be thrown back a few steps away. I straighten myself and scan the surrounding area. They're all tired.

"…You girls done now?" if they are then that would be the end of my workout.

" 'We can't touch him and he's elusive as a fox…' " Vert said analytically.

" 'He's strong as well...' " Blanc added.

" 'And worse, he doesn't seem to be a CPU' " Noire also adds.

" 'Sis did say that he was able to beat _our _Arfoire all by himself…' "

"Hey convinced now! I'm getting hungry…" Neptune said. And we just had lunch a few minutes ago.

" 'You're the one that said we should fight him' " Noire said.

" 'Hehehe… My Neppy can be so stupid…' " Madam goddess said.

"I don't want to hear that from you though…"

" 'I agree with what Neptune said. This is getting rather long now' " Vert agrees.

" 'I don't want to admit it, but I have to agree with you' " Blanc readies her weapon.

" 'We're going all out!' " Noire also readies hers.

" 'Right!' " and so does Nepgear.

From the corner of my eye, I see a small rainbow sparkle that I know all too well. I follow it and falls on their skin and coated them like it was silk. Their entire outline is thinly sparkling with an assortment of colors glittering. The pupils in their eyes started to slightly glow, it deformed and turned into an on and off power symbol.

" 'Hmhmhm~… Aha, their getting serious. What are you going to do now boy? Scream and cry?' " looking at Madam goddess behind me, it seems she is also having the same power up as those for.

My instincts says that I'm screwed if I do anything wrong here. Guess, going 'full' is an option again. I take a stance that I know all too well, the Japanese dudes would kill me if I don't do a proper stance in a serious fight.

*BANG!*

Sheesh… talk about being too aggressive. Noire and Vert charges in on me first….!

*BANG!*

Vert flies faster than Noire. It took nearly second before she got close to me. I bring my sword up and block her attack.

*CLASH!*

She passes me as her attack hits, my hands go numb. From behind Vert readies for another strike at me and upfront is Noire readying her sword.

*CLASH!*

I block Vert's attack from behind but it was strong enough to lift me off the ground.

" 'Let' go Vert!' "

*BANG!*

Noire and Vert both charges at me from above and below respectively. They fly towards me with their weapons at the ready.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

They attack from mid-air. They're so freakin fast that I can't see them properly. I let my instincts do all the moving for me to block those.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

Vert attacks in a cross pattern, leaving streams of green light in her wake. Noire attacks from all over the damn place making it only a split second for me to block. And also gravity is not being a friend to me here.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

I noticed during all this Noire's sword is getting brighter. It's slowly being colored in rainbow sparkles. And her attacks are getting faster as well.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

Vert stopped attacking and repositions herself on the ground. Noire still continues with her glowing sword. But because of that, I'm slowly falling on the ground.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

Noire had stopped attacking and is now in the air ready to throw her sword. I land on the ground…!

*BANG!* *CLASH!*

Vert had charged in and thrusts at me. I was able to parry it, making her pass me. Damn that was fucking close.

" 'Now!' "

*BANG!*

Noire throws her glowing sword towards me, I move to the side avoiding that. When I look for her from up top she was gone. My instincts pull me to the ground and Noire is standing a meter away, with a confident smile.

" 'Don't forget about me… Spiral Break!' "

From behind Vert had thrown her spear towards me. It races through the air with a green aura from it. It's increases speed, piercing through the air like butter.

" 'We win! Infinite Slash!' "

*SNAP!*

Noire snapped her fingers and lines after lines of blue light races all around me in any direction. It cuts everything that it touches. If I got touched by one of them I'm dead. Taking the glowing ass sword from I then throw it to the oncoming spear.

*BANG!*

" 'Guh!' "

" ''It's too bright…!' "

The cause of it, a bright light occurred from them. I don't know how but it's too freaking bright that I'm almost practically blind. And if I'm almost blind what of the others? With that in mind, I take the opportunity to run to Vert and chop her in the neck.

" 'Guh…' " she collapses after.

Feeling the bright flash recessing as quickly as it came, I run back and see that the two weapons that collided are on the ground. I grab the spear and with the butt end pointed, I throw it towards Noire before her eyes adjusted.

" 'Guh…!' "

It hit her plexus knocking the air out of her. She falls to the ground sleeping. And that wasn't the most graceful fall too.

*BANG!*

Blanc runs to me, readying her axe to the side. She was in front of me already, evident that she was waiting for me. She swings her axe.

*CLASH!*

The heavy crushing attack, I block it with just a katana supported with my other hand. And might I add that she's a bit stronger than her counterpart. I was pushed back. And I finally stopped, my instincts are all throwing warning signals at me.

" 'Yaaaaaaah!' "

From behind Nepgear uppercut me with her sword, I easily block that. She twists her body and performed a stationary round slash at me. That one was the kicker and slightly pushed me back.

*BAM!*

The ground slightly shakes, an earthquake had just erupted. It feels like I'm near the epicenter. I bend my knees trying to recover my balance…!

"The fuck…!"

The ground had suddenly risen, it was only a few inches up. It's like there was some sort of giant _Lumbricus Terrestris_ underneath the ground. I look back at Blanc and she throws her axe like a boomerang.

*CLASH!*

I block the boomerang axe and it lands on the ground, sticking in the earth.

*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*

*CLANG!* *CLANG!* *CLANG!* *CLANG!* *CLANG!* *CLANG!*

Nepgear shoots from her gun-sword. I block the bullets with my katana. Once she stops she flies towards me with her weapon pointing towards me.

*BANG!* *CLASH!*

I block her attack to the side. It was a good attack I have to admit. Before I got to chop her neck, she flies off unexpectedly.

" 'This'll do it! HARD BREAK!' "

From above, Blanc is dangerously close and about to swing her axe on me. I ready my sword and my knees to block it.

*CLASH!*

" 'YAAAAAAAAAAAH!' "

Fuck, her attack is made me cringe. It was so damn powerful that I almost fear the sword's integrity. I tilt the sword unexpectedly to the side…

" 'Wha…Guh!' " …and chop her neck making her fall asleep. I quickly lay her down.

" 'Multiple Beam Launcher Overdrive! CELESTIAL SEVERANCE!' "

Nepgear fired off a beam of rainbow light. Wow, it kinda has the 'I have everyone's feelings in this attack' cliché. I quickly place Blanc's axe in front of me and use it as a shield.

*CLSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSH!*

Surprisingly, the axe was able to hold it's own against Nepgear's attack. I quickly jump down from the small cliff, and run towards Nepgear with speed. She seemed to be concentrated too much on holding her ground against the kick of her beam, she was surprised to see me up close. I punch her gut…

" 'Guah…!' " Nepgear fell and falls on the ground knocked out. At the same time her attack stopped. I lay her down like the gentleman I am.

"You're the last one…"

Looking from above, the Madam sits on the air like it was thrown, a queen facing a feeble passerby. She looks down on me with a dominatrix look from her. I look at her magenta eyes, her pupils have also the same on and off power symbol on it.

" 'Hm… I like you, boy. So I'm showing you my special…!' "

Thick black clouds suddenly enveloped the area. It was sunny and clear skis a moment ago. So meaning this is her doing. Thunder roars from deep within those, like a dragon is just lying and waiting from beneath those. Or maybe god? That would be interesting. Madam goddess backflips upwards and raises her leg.

" 'T Blade Kick…' " she kicks the air below her as if there was something there to kick with.

*BAM!*

I quickly roll forward at the last minute avoiding a lightning from hitting me. It was a good thing that it didn't get attracted to me. I lift myself up and Madam goddess is only 10 meters away from me.

" 'I'll give an angel's service… Mwah…' " she gives me a flying kiss which I try to avoid from hitting me.

A sphere appeared in front of her and from it's edges 4 beams of light races through the air towards me. I run forward facing the four beams that are actually going to kill me. I thought this was a mock battle? As I got close, I take an angled step and swing my back leg as high as I it goes. I follow it with my head, body, and my front leg performing a flip called kick the moon. I avoid all for beams as I land on the ground. I run again towards the Madam.

" 'You…!' "

"Good night"

Before she has time to react, which she wouldn't, I chop her a sweet spot on her thigh first sending a bit of dysfunction towards her brain. I then chop her neck ending this battle.

" 'Uuh…!' " she falls down sleeping.

"And that's a that. Whoo. What a workout" I haven't had a good battle since I fought Arfoire in her dragon form.

"Yay! Jared won!"

"Whoa!" Neptune jumps on my back and started giving me kisses.

"Yay! Yay! I told them that you were strong. But they wouldn't believe me"

"You do know that fighting 5 goddesses at the same time is freakin' hard right?"

"Really? I thought you were thinking that this is all just a workout for you?"

"You're a mind reader now?"

"I am you're future-waifu and all"

"Right, right. C'mon, get off me, so I can find some apples in the forest. They'll be awhile before the get up"

"Okay" she got off of me and the sword disappeared.

"I'll be going now. Don't let any monster eat them alright? That would be too tragic"

"Sir yes sir!" she salutes. Although it is sloppy.

Petting her head, I head off. After get back, I'm going to take a nice warm bath.


	32. Chapter 32

Chapter 32:

"Tasty! Tasty! Tasty!"

"Uwa! You're making a mess!"

"U-Uh-Uwaaaaa!"

"Peashy please! Don't make a mess! ヽ（゜ロ゜；）ノ"

When we got back the toddlers are sitting on their low baby chairs in the dining room eating their bowl of porridge. At least they tried to. Since their sitting side-by-side, it seems the yellow haired toddler, named Peashy, is making a mess about how tasty the porridge is. And by mess, I mean attempting to steal some spoon full of the other toddler who is baby Iffy and baby Compa. And might I add that the two of them as an infant look absolutely adorable.

"Peashy, don't! You're making a mess!" Plutie scrambles over and tries to contain Peashy of her wildness.

"Tasty! Tasty! More food! More food!" the wild toddler still runs wild.

"Plutie! Fix this!" wow, baby Iffy is demanding.

"Uwaaaaaaaah!"

"I-I'm trying. C'mon Peashy stop it" mommy Peashy is getting stressed out.

"Geez, we came back tired and all and we're already dealing with the toddlers" Neptune says.

"…kids love to make a mess" Blanc added.

"It's understandable if they like the food though" Vert said.

"In any case, let me have my internal monologue first…"

The dining room looks has the walls and ceilings about as much the same as the rest of the places I've been in this floor of Planeptune tower. A simple wooden dining setup, wooden chairs and a wooden table and all, a cabinet on one side full of plates and others, a door on the far side of the room and an… elevator door directly opposite of us after the dining table. Also there's a sliding glass door that leads to the same veranda.

"In other words it's a simple dining area folks!" Neptune added.

"Before we do some non-sense let's clean this up" Noire suggested. I wanted to joke about this but I won't.

"All right" Nepgear agreed.

Walking towards the kitchen, I take some tissue from the roll and headed back. Peashy is still acting like a loose monkey while Plutie and mini-Histy restrain her. The rest of the girls are off into cleaning the floor and rest of the mess that they made.

"Huh? Who dis?"

"Sobwun I fon't know?" in the midst of the chaos, baby Iffy and baby Compa were able to cock their heads to ask.

"Food! Food! Eh? Oooh, Hello! I'm Peashy!" Peashy greeted me.

"Finally she went down… (￣｡￣;)"

"Peashy, you really shouldn't make a mess…" Plutie advised.

"But food is tasty!" she exclaimed. Babies these days…

"All right. We'll give you another one, but promise not to make a mess. All right?"

"Ohay!" Peashy replied.

"Also I'm Jared"

"Jaweed?"

"Red-Red?"

"Jaged! Jaged!"

-All right, that was terrible way of repeating my name.

We bring the bowls to Nepgear who was pouring fresh warm milk on baby bottles. Vert, Plutie and I wipe the babies' faces and their immediate areas. While the rest, Noire, Blanc and Neptune, are watching some television. Well, they did clean the floor. We positioned them by the open way of the dining room so we can all monitor them while we are at the living room.

"Here…" Nepgear brings a tray with 3 bowls of porridge and 3 bottles of milk.

"Better not make a mess now, alright?" I calmly advised the kids.

"Okay! Okay!"

"Mhm!"

"Food! Food! Food!"

Nepgear distributed the foods to the toddlers' included table on their baby chair. They all happily take their spoons and started eating their fresh porridge. Geez, kids these days…

I sit with all of them on the carpet floor as we watch Japanese anime being shown on TV. Hey, I have my own simple pleasures too.

"So what happened earlier? You all look tired… (^～^;)ゞ"

"They wouldn't believe me, Jared beats all of them!"

"We got beat!" Neptune and Plutie happily proclaimed.

"Ugh… Remembering how we all couldn't even touch him is kinda miserable" Noire said.

"…He's way too OP…" Blanc said. And fort those that don't know, it means overpowered.

"Well, I did train a lot to achieve such level" not like I was born strong or anything.

"But still fighting 5 goddesses, no ordinary person could even match that" Vert said.

"I did fight your counterparts in the other dimension"

"And he beat them all!" Neptune shouted.

"Uwaaa… so even other Noire, Blanny and Vert got beat?" Plutie asked.

"Yeah, and the battle took three chapters to make!"

"I think the other Blanc told me that they also couldn't touch him" Nepgear supports

"Preach it Nep Jr! He's the best!"

"The best!" these two are just a recipe for randomness…

"Um… that was a pretty intense fight, I assume. Is he a CPU in your dimension? (・ヘ・?)"

"CPU? He's not girl right?" Plutie asked.

"Why a girl?" Vert asked.

"…Because every CPU we know is a girl" Blanc said.

"Wait… so…" Nepgear had noticed.

"He's a girl!?" Noire jumped to the gun.

"He is!? Then what have I been su-!" I cover Neptune's mouth before she says anything.

"We already covered that!"

"Mmm! Mmm! Mmm!" she squirms and tries to hit me as I hold her mouth.

"And if you're all asking—Ow! I'm not a girl!" this woman is biting my hand off.

"Oh, I see, so you're not a girl" Plutie sounded relieved.

"Then how can we explain that you were able to beat us?" Noire asked.

"It's because I'm passerby…!"

"Mmmgh! Fua! Hey mister, that was mean of you to do that, you bully!" she lightly hits me as she complains.

"…I don't think any passerby would come out and beat 5 goddesses. Especially _her_" Blanc said.

"_Her?_" Plutie cannot read what she meant.

"Then I'm no ordinary passerby then" I said as I try to defend myself from Neptune's attacks.

"Bully! Bully! Bully!" and her hits are getting harder too.

"I actually want to know the details of the fight. But I guess we'll leave that for another time. (￣ー￣)" Histy said.

"So he's really not a CPU? Can't we make him turn into one right now?" Vert said.

"Nepu! That was a great idea! I thought boobie ladies only think about their boobs!" Neptune said her amazement.

"Wait, wait. I can become a CPU?" 'm kinda shocked to hear that. Don't tell me I have to be reborn right.

"Yeah, we actually didn't tell you. But we weren't CPU's at first" Noire said.

"Really?" so different rules apply to different dimensions, a different truth, in short.

"And anyone who became a CPU won't age for rest of their life" Vert said.

"And the reason why you became a CPU is because you want to have eternal beauty right?" I ask Vert.

"Of course" a confident smile appeared, as she jiggles her breast.

"…If you're able to beat us, then I don't think that you'll become monster" Blanc dropped the bomb.

"Say what?" I know that word pisses me off, but it's a different kind of monster.

"…It's a fifty-fifty chance that you're going to become one" so it's one or the other huh.

"I see… " well that's going to be shit. I really don't want to literally turn into a monster.

"Don't worry Jared! You're great and my fiancée, nothing's going to stop you" you really are setting death flags huh, Neptune.

"Sis, um, you're setting up death flags again" my thoughts exactly, Nepgear.

"Pfft! He'll just break them like a twig and bury them somewhere" Neptune retorted.

"So… where do I start?" I am actually interested in how I turn out if I became a CPU. I wonder how my HDD form would turn out. Would I have a canon in my right hand?

"Here…" Vert reaches out to her cleavage and pulls out a diamond shaped candy.

"…Typical" I mumble as I take it.

Examining the small candy like object, it seems that it has sparkles all around it against the light. Right in the middle of it, it also has the same on and off power symbol. The texture is smooth like holding a diamond. And I can't smell anything from it.

"You sure this is safe to eat?" I ask.

"Mhm! Just do it! We want to see what kind of CPU you are going to be"

"I am eagerly anticipating (;^o^)"

"Well, I'd be lying if I didn't" Nepgear said.

"…I'm excited as well" Blanc added.

"It's not like I'm excited but I do want to see your HDD form" Noire is still acting dishonest.

"If it's successful then we'd have another competition" Vert said.

"Ba- bum. Ba-bum" Plutie is making heart beating sounds. And it's making me nervous.

"Okay…"

With one last look at all of them, and the toddlers are still eating their porridge. I look at the object in my hand and po-!

"By the way that's called a CPU memory"

"The more I know, Neptune… *Gulp!*"


	33. Chapter 33

Chapter 33:

I chew on it a little before I swallow. It's like swallowing diamond or some other rock. I control my gag reflex and push the CPU memory down. It takes a while until my esophagus had leeway. The rest of the girls wait in excitement as they stare at me.

"Hrm…" I don't feel that different though.

"Ba-dum! Ba-dum!" Plutie is still making those heartbeat sounds.

"I can't wait for him to have a health stealing right hand!" Neptune says her excitement.

"…That would be too unnatural. He should have fire in his hands" Blanc added.

"How about the Knives of Chaos" that is just the worst reference pun ever Noire.

"Can't we just all wait for him to transform?"

"But you are also excited, right Vert? (-ω-"

"You know, I'm not really feeling something here…" I say. It does feel like my stomach is digesting it, really.

"Eh? But when I ate one. I transformed almost immediately" Nepgear said her concern.

"Hm? Hey, wait I think I'm feeling it…!" my stomach reacts. A small heat rises from my core. Like I'm going to have a small fever or something.

"Ba-dum! Ba-dum!"

"Would he become a fast, henchog!" to hell to me becoming a_ Erinaceinae_.

"I'd be willing to bet that he'll become a bald" not in a million, Noire.

"…Then he'll work as plumber"

"Please stop expecting something impossible… (－□－;)"

The heat in my body rises. From the core, it work it's up to my chest. My stomach churns and twists. By the minute, my body is getting more and more dull. I small vertigo, blurred and twists my vision. My head feels light and…!

"Guh!"

*SQZ!* *SQZ!* *SQZ!*

"_Julia! Julia!_"

*SQZ!**SQZ!**SQZ!*

I run towards the sink as soon as my stomach felt something bad. I lean on the sink and twist the faucet on. All my stomach muscles contracted all together, pushing everything upwards including my lunch. My head is spinning like a top and tears are flowing down from my eyes…!

"Vua! GUAH!" I puke everything all my lunch onto the sink. I even puked the CPU memory as well.

"GuaaaaH!" I puke some more, it's like someone is pulling my gut from the mouth.

"VUAAA! *cough!* *Cough!* Mgr…! Huaaaaah!"

"Jared…!"

In between my vomiting, Neptune runs over and rubs my back. I continue vomiting regardless, but it does give me a slight relief.

"Mguaaaa! _Haa… haa… haa… haa… _"

*THUD!*

I fall on the floor and put my back against the cabinet. I wipe my mouth as I catch my breath. My stomach is still contracting but I've already puked everything out. Neptune comforts me by petting me on the head, which is good to disrupt my vertigo.

"You okay?" she asked.

"I'm not…_haa, haa…_ Jaysus that was shit…"

"What happened? Got stuck on your throat?" Norie asked.

"I actually swallowed the thing… but somehow my body puked it back…"

"Aww… the CPU memory is all wasted!" Plutie said.

"You shouldn't puke CPU memories!" and she advised as all. She's strange, but she's fun.

"You're not having a headache right?" Neptune asked, concerned and scared that the rest probably didn't notice.

"I didn't have one. I just had a vertigo…" I reassure her. I actually didn't felt any headaches, just a momentary flashback. And why did I remember it clearly.

"Okay! You're fine then!" a relieved smile escapes her.

"Yeah… I am…" I stand up and pull her up as well.

"Um… so what? You're not going to turn into a CPU?" Noire asked.

"…Then"

"He's going to turn into a monster!" Vert continued Blanc's conclusion.

"Um… no, I'm not turning into one… because I…"

"Nepu! Plutie give me your dolls we have to stop the monster virus from spreading!"

"Oooookaaaaay!" Plutie summoned a blue teddy bear and throws to Neptune. Of course she catches it and raised it over her head.

"Don't worry Jared! This won't hurt one bit!" she swings down on the teddy bear.

*THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!*

"Ow! Dammit! What the hell is that doll made of!? Marbles!? Ow!" this doll seriously hurts!

"I think it's not working? Should I hit him more?" Neptune questions as she still hits me.

"Harder! Harder!" Plutie requested. Dammit Plutie!

"Hard it is!" Neptune hits even more harder. Dammit woman, that hurts!

* * *

"Uh… dammit, I can't feel anything…" my whole body is numb from Neptune hitting me.

"At least you won't turn into a monster now!" Neptune said with a smile.

"And in exchange I got bruises..."

"I'm kinda confused about all this… (・_・?)"

"What's confusing?" Plutie asked.

"…Didn't he just gulped down the CPU memory? By then he'd change…" Blanc said.

"And nothing happened other than vomiting…" Vert added.

"By now he should be have turned into a CPU or a monster" Noire also adds.

"I'm just glad that he didn't turn into the latter…" Nepgear relieves herself.

"So what are you, Jared?" Mini-Histy asked.

"I'm a passerby, nothing more, nothing less…"

"…That line again?" Blanc said.

"Yeah, that line again…"

"I don't think I have records of anyone ever having puking a CPU memory before… （￣□￣；）"

"Or maybe my stomach didn't actually liked it, it did tasted like I was swallowing diamond or amethyst"

I actually have an idea of why I puked the CPU memory earlier. And it's probably connected to me being 'special'. But that would contradict everything I know about my 'specialty'. Normally, I'd have to experience it before it starts to kick in. In this case however, it's complete and utter rejection.

"*Sigh*… This day is getting better and better" Noire sighed.

"…Agreed…" Blanc approves.

"I think I need some rest…" Vert also heaves a sigh.

"Aww… Can't you play a bit longer?" Plutie begged.

"W-well, we-we could but…"

"…Sorry Plutie, we're just tired we need some rest" Blanc plugged in what Noire wanted to say.

"Aww… Okay, you guys better rest up! So we can play another day!" Plutie said. The three girls stood up, and brushed off some dirt that came have caught from their dress.

"Okay we're heading off now" Noire stated.

"…Bye-Bye"

"Bye- bye! Take care!" Plutie waved.

"Take care!" Nepgear also said.

"I'll be back for you tomorrow Nepgear" Vert said sinisterly.

"V-Vert!"

"Don't be such a lonelywart Noire!" Neptune said.

"I-I'm not lonely!"

"Sure you are! Bye then!"

"Grrr! Fine, hmph!" Noire storms out and the rest followed suit. We hear the elevator doors open and close, and they left.

"Aww… they left…"

"It's okay, we'll just play and play until they get jealous and comeback to us"

"Um… shouldn't we deal with the babies first?" Nepgear reminded us.

Looking at the babies now, it seems that they had fallen asleep during that charade. All three of them have emptied their bowls and bottles. A sweet snoring sound escapes from the gaps of their mouths. With shut eyes, they lightly squirm around.

"Isn't this sweet?"

Deciding to myself that I'll be doing the dishes, since I want to cook again. Neptune, Plutie and Nepgear all carry the babies and escaped to one of the rooms in the hallway. I collect the bowls and bottles then proceeded to wash them. Mini-Histy stares at me with concern.

"Are you really not turning to be a CPU?" she asked with a serious face this time, that the emoticon didn't appear.

"I'm a passerby not a CPU…"

And that might be my life long insignia…


	34. Chapter 34

_I had WAY TOO much fun playing Re;birth 1 on PC (60 fps madness!). And sorry for the one(?) week absence. I can't help but Nep a Nep-Nep and Nep them to 999. XD_

* * *

Chapter 34:

Imprinting; New born chicks often refer to the nearest thing they see as their parents. Often, that is actually a well foreseen phenomenon. Ask anyone about this concept and anyone might give you the same idea as an answer. My sudden reminder of this had just arrived just now…

"Weee! Weee!"

"Weeeeeeee!"

"Ahahaahaha! I'm so high!"

On my knees, I have two of my arms raised and leveled it on my shoulder. Baby-Iffy and baby-Peashy are hanging onto my arms while baby-Compa is on my head. We just spin around as they enjoy being swung, while I enjoy their reactions. I also have Nepgear here just in case baby-Compa decides to slip out.

"Weee! Weee!"

"Weeeeeeeeee!"

"Wah! Wah!"

See? Aren't their reactions just freakin' adorable?

"Okay, you three, let's stop now. My arms are getting tired"

"Boo… We want to play more"

"Play! Play!" baby Peashy and baby Compa demanded.

"Don't be chelchish!" and baby Iffy still has that Iffy-esque aura around her even if she's a toddler.

"Aww…" the two looks disappointed.

"Hey it's a little bit ways before 10. So let's go on a stroll outside" babies do need some vitamins from the sun after all. And exposing them after 10 o'clock is bad actually.

"Okay!"

"I'll help" Nepgear instantly took action. Kneeling down, the two babies let go and Nepgear took baby-Compa in her arms.

It's actually, the very next day and, as to what happened earlier, I just decided to play with the toddlers for a while. Since I'm sleeping by the living room, I was kinda shocked to see that they were crawling out of Histy's room, which is located at the far left side of the hall, near the elevator. Nepgear have also awoken from her sleep after a short while. And after a small tea, decided to play with us as well. The rest, well, I don't know why they're still not up yet with all the noise we're making.

"Where's Neptune?"

"Sis is still probably sleeping"

"Oh yeah… she is a very heavy sleepy head. Should I go wake them up?" I want to ask since I am entering into a girls room and all.

"But she's sleeping so soundly in there"

"Then I'll just tell her that we're going out for a while"

"All right…"

"Let's go! Let's go!" baby-Peashy urges.

"After you wash your faces first" I advised.

"Come on, let's go to the bathroom and get ourselves washed"

"Ooh!" the three toddlers cheered at Nepgear's suggestion. As if a mother, Nepgear carried all three, don't ask me how, she just did, and carried them to the bathroom by the hall near to the actual living/kitchen room.

I headed to that same hall as well, and found Neptune and Plutie's room. The room inside has the same color scheme as the outside. Only is, though, a lot more, girlish. Mind you, I do appreciate this kind of setting and I am not particularly bothered. On the left side are a 2 layered cabinets arranged in a staircase manner. There is also a doll of plush doll of Noire there sitting alone on it. On the right is another flat TV with, of course, a gaming console connected to it.

In the middle of the room there's a… oh this is new, it's a tonkatsu. Well not really new, but, it's a sight for a sore eyes. It has 4 legless chairs surrounding it. In the far right corner of the room is a 4 stair case designed shelves that house some plush dolls of Nepgear, Vert, Blanc and Neptune and other various things. On the far left side of the room is a queen sized circular bed with a curtain, shaped as a cone, which rises up to the upper corner. There are also some balloons hanging above them as well.

Silently walking towards the bed, I can already see that Neptune and Plutie is sleeping softy through the comfortable bed. Neptune is just wearing her purple dress, and Plutie is still wearing her clothes from last night. She really is always ready to go to sleep. Plutie hugs Neptune tightly as if she was teddy bear of sorts.

"Neptune, hey…" I whisper to her.

"Nepuuu…~" haha, that never gets old.

"I'm going out for a while. If you're hungry while I'm out, give a call"

"Bring back some pudding…~"

"Okay. I'll bring back some" Neptune returns to dreamland after.

* * *

"Where should we go?" I ponder as we walk.

Nepgear and I walk the streets of Planeptune with a baby walker which settles in three toddlers. I was originally thinking of giving them some vitamins under the sun by just strolling around. But that could get boring after a few minutes.

"How about we go to the supermarket?" Nepgear suggested.

"Something you want to buy?" I ask.

"Some essentials. I'm sure Sis wants some pudding"

"Little sister intuition perhaps?" I didn't actually tell her about that.

"I think that's what Sis always wants"

"Touché. Know where it is?"

"Mhm, it's around…"

With Nepgear guiding, we march on towards the nearest supermarket. The babies in the baby walker are playing some more. The passersby give us looks saying that we might be one happy family. Even most women that we pass by also says that we are a nice looking family. Nepgear does look more mature than her big sister.

"Just a thought, who's the actual little sister here? You or Neptune?"

"Guh… We kinda get that a lot. But she's really my big sis"

"No one would actually believe you though" her actual contrast to her sister does make one question the order of things.

"Ah, we're here" we both stop in front of a small supermarket.

"Maybe we should buy some things for dinner tonight" the fridge is starving right about now.

"What would we be having?"

"Beef marrow stew"

"Okay"

We enter the small supermarket with the employees saying "Welcome". Getting a basket, we walk around the rows after rows looking for some condiments that we might need. Ooh fish sauce, I think we don't have those, something that we will need.

"Jar-Jar! Jar-Jar!" now I'm Jar-Jar, baby-Compa?

"What is it?"

"Wut's that?" she points to a clay jar with a face of man and with a giant nose.

"Ahaha, it looks funny!" baby-Peashy said.

"That's an egg yolk separator"

"Egg wolk?"

"You know, the yellow one in the middle of the egg"

"Ooh!" baby-Peasy said.

"Let's show it to Nep!" baby-Iffy said. Well, I can easily make crème caramel with it, but the frequency of use is what I'm worried about.

"…Neptune loves her desserts after all" she's going to demand it from me 24/7 after.

"All right" I take one of these funny egg yolk separators. Really, who made these things?

"Jared. I got what we need" Nepgear said while running to us with the basket now full of things.

"So that's why you weren't here. What you got?"

"Some potatoes, Bok Choi's, corns, Nappa cabbages, and 1kilogram of beef"

"Yeah, we could do with that"

"What about our breakfast?"

"I just got this" I showed her the funny egg yolk separator.

"Pfft! What's that, haha!"

"It's an egg yolk separator. It looks cool huh"

"Sis would love to see that" we have a light laugh.

"You have more to buy, Jared?"

"It's already 10. Let's go" at this time it's bad for baby skin.

* * *

"We're back!"

"Back! Back!"

"Welcome back. (*^▽^*)" Mini-Histy greeted, as we all enter the living/kitchen room.

"Welcome baaaack!" Plutie also greeted as she stopped her sewing. Oh she sews huh.

"Plu! Lookie this funny thing!"

"It's funny!"

"Funny!" the toddlers show off the funny looking egg yolk separator.

"Hehehe! He looks so funny!" Plutie laughed.

"I'll go prepare breakfast" Nepgear announces and headed to the kitchen. I put the plastic bag full of things that we bought on the kitchen counter.

I feel the call of nature calling onto me, I give Nepgear a pat on the shoulder signaling I have to go somewhere. With a nod, I headed to the bathroom door. Feeling door knob, I confirmed that it's not locked. But some of us don't lock it thinking that we'll be quick on using it. So I give the door some knocks and waited a few without an answer. With that in mind, I open the door and headed inside.

"Nepu?"


	35. Chapter 35

Chapter 35:

"Nepu?"

"Oh, it's' just Neptune" I thought it was someone else. That would be too tragic.

"Geez, what's with the not cliché reaction. Wouldn't you be having a nosebleed from seeing a girl naked?" Neptune says her dissatisfaction.

In case you're asking, Neptune here is just about to remove her underwear. And judging by the towel that I see hanging on the hanger by the side, it seems she wants to take a bath.

Apparently this isn't actually the bathroom, but rather the changing room before the actual bath. On the right there's a mirror and a granite counter for the tap and sink. On the left is door to the toilet, probably. And upfront is an obscure moss-type glass window slider to the actual bath. The tiles are all glittered with a bright assortment of colors that are too many to indicate.

"I've already seen you're naked body so many times now, I'm used to it" I say as I enter, close and lock the door behind me. Neptune completely removes the last of clothing.

"Guaaah! Th-that means you're getting fed up with me. I-Is it because I'm unsexy during sex?"

"Not really. But you are a natural though" a rarity to see women being so natural at it that you might even consider it as a talent.

"Then I'm a pervert!?"

"Probably"

"Neepuu~…." What a sad Neptune. The scales must have befallen before her eyes.

"It's fine. Jared is a bigger pervert than me" she made a comeback.

"The hell?"

"I mean, you've already done it with countless other girls before me, right? That means you're a bigger pervert than me"

"My gawd…" I think that scales have fallen before my eyes as well. Well, I actually do have experience with countless other girls before. But I am not obliged in any way to remember them though.

"So what's up? Want to do another bath scene with me? This is what the readers read these for after all" don't break the 4th wall woman.

"I just want to take a pee. Nothing more"

"Aww… And I'm already ready to have it"

"I do want to succumb to my temptations but someone would hear us and that would be terrible" it would give a certain little sister a shocker.

"Then can I watch you pee?"

"Absolutely not" I chop her head. And what the heck is with the sparkle in your eyes when you said it.

*CHOP!*

"Nepuu~…" she holds her head.

"Next time we'll do it, okay? We'll do it all night if you want to" hopefully that would let her hold her desire to watch me pee. Gawd this girl is a handful and headache to be with. In a good way, mind you.

"Fiiine… Give me a kiss then"

"All right… Mm… *Smack*" I give Neptune's puckered up lips a smack. She smiles sweetly and walked off towards the bath. Hearing water starting to flow in there, I head off towards the toilet room and answer nature's call.

* * *

"Ooh! A neeto breakfast!"

"Yes, they all look really delicious (^_^)"

"Neppy Jr. is a great cook"

"U-Um…I really didn't do anything special though" the little sister is a humble one.

The breakfast prepared for us on the table is an Omelette with ground beef and onions, sausages, and ham. It's a good assortment of a breakfast menu plus even the smell breeds off a home cooking-esque that I favor so much.

"But Jared's cooking is much better though. So I'm kinda losing in that department now" Nepgear added.

"Don't worry, you're not. And I'm a fan of home cooked meals"

"Really? Even though you're meals can rival a 5 star restaurant?"

"Really, really" it reminds me of a certain woman who is such a klutz in her dishes and yet it tasted so good.

"I'm fuangry…" baby-Compa said.

"Well with that out of the way let's all eat! （＾▽＾）"

"Thanks for the food!"

Everyone settled in. Neptune and I are seated next to each other, with baby-Peashy on her lap. Plutie and Nepgear are opposite of us with baby-Compa and baby-Iffy on their laps respectively. Histy is sitting nicely on the table with her own set of tiny utensils. Everyone takes what they need towards their plates. I say 'everyone takes' but all they did was to ask me to give them what they want. And we all dig in…

"Say 'aah' for me…"

"Aaah… mph…" Nepgear has successfully fed baby-Iffy.

"Open up for the train"

"Aaah… mph… Tasty, tasty!"

"Mhm, mhm. Eat so you can be big and strong"

"Oookay…" Plutie had thrown the generic motherly line to baby-Compa. Of course, it's effective on any child.

"Hey P-ko! Stop playing!"

"Ahahaha!"

It seems my fiancée is not doing well. Peashy is doing nothing but swinging a spoon as if it was a magical wand. Plus on top of it all, she's making a mess out of Neptune's plate. Kids these days can't be restrained, geez…

"Hey…!"

*Thonk!*

Ow dammit. Peashy just hit me with a spoon on the head.

"P-ko! Now you're going too far!" an angry Neptune is angry.

"Ahahaha!"

*Thonk!* *Thonk!* *Thonk!*

Ow, ow, ow! She's hitting me with a force of a grown man knocking on my skull. Not letting another one hit me again. I grab her small body and put her on my lap. She still squirms under me.

"Yo, you won't get to eat if still squirm like that" I tell the baby.

"Boo! I want to play and eat!" and she still squirms.

"Geez, you won't get any dessert if you keep being spoiled like that" Neptune said.

"Ookay…" and… she stopped?

"Haa? That worked?" Neptune seems dumbstruck as well.

"At least your favorite dessert is the answer for this child" I take a spoonful of the omelette egg with ground beef and put it before the baby-Peashy.

"Say 'aaah'"

"Aaah… mmf… Tasty! Tasty!" the baby happily said.

"You're next Neptune, give her a piece of your sausage"

"Well, since I'm getting married and all I have to have experience with these things, right?" that's not actually what I'm going for but that sounds good as well. She takes a small part of her sausage on her spoon and brings it to the toddler.

"Say 'aaah' "

"Ahmf!"

"Nepu! That's my arm! My arm!"

"Pfft! Haha" now this is comedic. Instead of the sausage she went and bit her forearm instead.

"Ow, ow, ow. Now my docile skin has a bite mark on it"

"Let me see" Neptune places her bit arm before me. It isn't any deep or anything like that.

"You're going to be fine. And it's not bleeding of any sort"

"Geez, and I thought I was gonna have rabies or something"

"That's from animals. And rude as well"

"Hey, hey. Food, food…" baby-Peashy begged and tugged.

"Okay, okay… say 'aah'…" I bring her another spoonful.

"Aah… mmf!"

"…"

"…"

"They're like a happy family!" Plutie said.

"The difference between them night and day. (-_-)"

"But they're so good together… All three of them" Nepgear said.

"I still can't believe that she's in a relationship in that state. (；¬＿¬)"

"I guess when it comes to love. He doesn't actually mind what she is"

"But Neppy is smiling right now" once Plutie said her observation everyone noticed as well. Neptune's smile right now isn't anything special. Rather, in big-Compa's words, her smile is a 'level up' right now.

"When she smiles like that it means that she's really, really happy. And that makes me happy as well"

"I guess, I've never seen Sis smile like that before now"

"You're right. In cliché shows, it's a smile of a girl in heartfelt love. (^▽^*)"

"Can I have some more food?"

"Food pwetty pwease…" the two toddlers begged.

"Oookay, open up for the train"

"Say 'aah', IF"

"Neptune…" I call to her as I move my head closer to hers.

"Hm?" she also leans towards me.

"I love you" I say it in whisper.

"I love you too…" and she returns it with her picturesque smile.


	36. Chapter Valentines (1)

Chapter Valentines:

"~Hmm~ Hmm~ Hmm~"

"Seem to be having fun right off the bat"

"It's because we're on a date!" she happily skips by my side.

Today is a special date today. How special it is, well, it's the 14th day after the first full moon of the year. You guessed it, it's Valentine's Day. It's the first Valentines date we have. Granted we were separated for 12 years, in Neptune's perspective. Neptune was excited for this day; she wouldn't stop bugging me where we should go. Of course, I didn't make any preparations or planning of the sort before this. I'm a passerby after all I'll just make it up as I go.

"Where are we going? An arcade? An amusement park?"

"How about the mall"

"Eeeeh? We're going to be shopping for stuff"

"We can find many strange things in the mall"

"Strange?"

"Right. Like some hidden gems or one hundred rings"

"Oooh!"

"Basically we're just going window shopping"

"Eeh? But aren't windows expensive?"

"They are. So what do we call this? A stroll?"

"How about a datey stroll!"

"That doesn't sound any date-esque at all"

"Oh who cares about what it's called. As long as it's a date with someone I love, I don't care!"

"Crap you're making my heart skip a beat"

We walk the streets of Planeptune. There aren't those futuristic tunnels here which are a shame since it would kinda take a while to get to the mall. The streets are jammed packed with couples young and old alike. Some have even couple shirts. Most have chocolates to eat.

Neptune grips my hand tightly. It doesn't mean anything special or any premonition of something. Right now she's truly, truly happy. If there was a device that can measure her feelings towards me right now. I think it would be over 9000. We walk on, blending in with the theme of the day. While keeping in mind an old saying: "Love is in the air".

* * *

"Hmm…"

"Hm…"

"Hrm…"

"Um… madam, sir…"

"Wait"

"…Right…?"

Inside the mall, the first thing my lovely fiancee wanted was to eat. And the first thing that she was waffles. And she's been staring at the menu for some time now as if trying to burn a hole through it.

"Ugh… I can't decide, they all look so scrumptious!" Neptune said.

"Um… then how about you pick our special today" the lady before us said.

"Special!? I didn't see any special!"

"It's our most recent. Pudding Waffle"

"Pudding!?" Neptune's eyes sparkle with delight. Honestly, pudding waffle is a curious inclusion in waffles.

"Jared, Jared! Let's buy 20 of them!" she begs like a stray dog looking for food.

"Divide that number by 10. Miss" I tell the woman.

"Coming right up!"

* * *

"Amhf! Haaaa…." the girl beside me is in bliss.

"…This is good"

"Mhm! Mhm! If its pudding it's always good"

"Haha… I guess so. What do you want to do next?"

"Hmm… Eh, is that…?"

"Hrm?"

Looking to where she's looking, there is a man there standing very still in silver clothes and silver paint. There's a box in front of him. It's a mime.

"A mime, eh?"

"That looks so coolosome. Let's drop some coins and see what he'll do"

Walking towards the mime, I drop a few credits in the box and step back to see what he'll do.

"…!"

The mime dances, more specifically a break dance. There isn't any music playing in the background as well, but he still dances the beat in his head.

"That's so cool"

"Want to watch some more? I'll put some coins"

"Okay!"

* * *

"That was fun"

"Watching a guy get tired from dancing?"

Apparently Neptune made me put 1000 credits to make the guy dance for 2 hours straight without resting. I feel sorry for him, but what can you do, we were having fun watching him dance in agony after the first hour.

"…And now I'm being a sadist?"

"Hm?"

"…Nothing"

Walking, we explore the mall in great detail. Checking the time, I confirmed that it's already afternoon. Our stomachs aren't growling but I think we should something or Neptune would pester me in the most inconvenient of places. I just know how to deal with Neptune huh?

"Want something to eat?"

"I want some cake!"

"Right… let's find some"

* * *

"CONGRATULATIONS!"

"…"

"Oooh! What we win! What we win!"

The moment we entered 'Cake Restaurant', obviously enough it's a cake shop, we were greeted by its staff a large congratulations. I kinda almost jumped to the conclusion that we were being ambushed and scared one staff when he saw my 'eyes'. Hopefully he doesn't kill himself from the horror. And anyways, what did we win?

"For being the 100th couple to enter our shop on this wonderful day, we will give a special privilege of naming you two the couple of the mall!" a staff shouted.

"Haa?" couple of the day?

"Ahem… apparently the owner of this branch is the godson of the owner of the mall. And with a bit of talking, you have been chosen as the couple of the mall!"

"Riiiight…"

"Eeh? So we aren't getting any cake?"

"That's what is apparently…"

*GRRRRRRR*

"…Yeah, we really need to eat first" if you haven't guessed, Neptune's stomach just growled like an angry wolf.

"Hey, we're the couple of the mall, right? Give us something scrumptious to eat on the double!"

"Staff, ready the arms! We have a hungry couple here!" the staff woman shouted.

"Ahooo Ahoo!" the hell? This isn't the Battle of Thermopylae.

* * *

"Well now, this is a surprise… not"

After eating a hearty meal, we were then escorted to the center ground floor. Then, we were separated by some staff guys and she was escorted to an all-girls clothes store. Of course, I warned those dudes. I, on the other hand, was dressed in tail coat. Not my style but I do look good in it.

"Sir, now please follow us to the stage"

"You sure you're not going to kidnap me?"

"Haha… It's Valentine's, we're not going to do it today" so can I call the police?

I follow a staff out of the shop. Once outside, the center ground floor is now littered with crowds of people. The staff excuses the people as we both pass through. He guides me to the attention of the crowd, which is a big open space.

"Whoa…!"

Then all of a sudden the light went off. Everyone panicked a bit. I instantly overclock my brain and set my body to full alert. But the moment I do, I put it back down. There wasn't really anything to worry about.

Someone lighted a woman a few meters before me. Wearing a purple dress in her transformed form, the woman slowly walks up to me. Feeling the limelight, I, too walked towards her.

"Nice getup…"

" 'I really don't want to talk about it. It's kinda tight for me…' "

"That means you're getting fat"

" 'Guh… I really should cut down on my consumption of sweets' "

"Don't worry, I'll still love you no matter"

" 'That's not helping me in the slightest. Oh...' "

"Hm? Air on a G string?"

As we were chatting, the background music plays. It was a music that I've played once on a beautiful starry night and a music that I've played during the 'other' night.

" '…Since we're like this. Let's enjoy ourselves' " Neptune smiles.

"Took the words right of my mouth. Now then…" bowing, I held out a hand before her.

"May I have this dance, my lady?"

" 'You may' " and with grace, she takes my hand and we both step up to each other.

We dance.

With one of our hands interlocked together, her other hand is on my shoulder and while my other is on her waist. Just as we remembered that first night we danced, we dance and dance and dance. We do nothing special. We just spin around enjoying the spotlight lighting over us.

-Enjoying the person before us.

" 'Jared…' "

"Yeah?"

" 'It feels like we're on top of the world' "

"We are on top of the world" even for a moment, the world is just watching us. And also 'the world' is as well.

" 'Jared…' "

"What is it?"

" 'Happy Valentine's' "

"Happy Valentines to you too"

To end this dance, we stop spinning around pull her by waist close to me.

Closer and closer, our lips seek each other like a pair of magnets.

" 'Mm…' "

We kiss each other tenderly as the music ends.

The world clapped its hands as some random MC announces that we're the couple of the mall.

" 'Ah…' " we release from each other's spell.

"I love you, Neptune"

" 'I love you too!' "


	37. Chapter Valentines (2)

Chapter Valentines:

" 'Today is Valentines and I didn't give you any chocolates' "

"Oh right, that was a tradition..."

Sitting on a provided sofa of the hotel room that we are at, we play with each other's hands while her head is on my shoulder. Neptune's warmth slowly seeps towards me against the cold valentine night. We stare blankly at the wall of our room, enjoying each other's company.

" 'It's our first Valentine's date and we forgot about that' "

"Goes to show how much fun we had"

" 'Yeah…' " she tightens her grip on my hand and rubs her head on my shoulder.

" 'Still, I would have loved to give you chocolates…' "

"And I'll give you some flowers"

" 'That's kinda old fashioned' "

"But it still gets a girl every time…"

" 'Maybe you're right…' "

Feeling each other, we stay silent and just continue to play the other's hand. Our fingers eventually reached our rings. Looking at her right now, she has nice smile on her face, a motherly one as well as a bride's.

"You excited?"

" 'Mhm. But I'll wait…' "

"Don't worry, we can go whenever you like. Just tell me early on so I can prepare my suit"

" 'Okay. I promise...' "

"Speaking of suits… we are wearing ones that they gave from the store, right?"

" 'Right. So?' "

"Crap… we're going to smell like laundry if we manage to doze off like this"

" 'Let's go take a bath' "

* * *

The bath. For men, having sex in the bath is on par with a friend with benefits. That's just what most men, in the red district, have in mind.

" 'Uu… I thought we were going to take a bath' "

"Meh. You did invite me last time to do it, right?"

We play around in the bathroom, cloudy with steam. Rubbing the body soap bubbles along Neptune's bare skin, I hold her from behind. Skin smooth and supple, adding soap to it makes my hands slide across it.

With that in mind, I reach around and play with her breasts.

" 'Ah…! ' " I knead them.

" 'Nnhu…! Nn… hau… you're such a pervert… Jared' "

"I'll take that as a compliment"

" 'Hau… unn… nn, nnn… Jared…' "

I rub a thin layer of bubbles onto her chest. I squeeze them hard, then knead them around.

" 'Ah…! Aha… haa, haa… ha… hau… nn… huuu…' "

I gently pinch her pale tips with my fingers. Because of the soap, they slip out. I repeat that several times with hands, kneading both nipples obsessively.

" 'Nn…! Haa…! Ah, uha… ahu, nnnnnn! H-Hey, Jared…! That's, ah! Too much…!' "

"That was what I am going for"

" 'Hau, nnn…!' "

Her nipples grow hard. I finally capture them with fingers.

" 'Ha…! Nnu… huu, huu, huu… ah…! Ha!' "

I pinch and rub her pink flower buds, pulling them left and right.

The soap must be having an effect, because Neptune rubs her thighs together with each pained breath.

" 'Nnha… ahu, nn… huha… ah, ah…! You're already hard… haa, haa' "

My hot raging rod is sticking to her butt.

Neptune's hips writhe around in response.

"Raise your hips for me"

"Nhu…! Ha, ah…"

My hardened thing point upward and stick it between her legs. Both of our genitalia are hot.

I move my penis a little. Her hips and crotch are wet, but in very different way from a body soap.

" 'Ha… ahu, nn…! Nnn… You're throbbing…' "

"That's because you look really enticing right now…"

" 'You don't have to be so…hau! Nn, nnn… haa, haa…' "

I clutch her chest again. I push her breasts together.

" 'Nn… So you like big breasts… uhu, nnn… ha…! Nn, huha…' "

"Didn't I tell you that men are simple creatures to the woman they like"

Groping her breasts some more, I shake my hips as I fondle her.

My thing rubs against her crotch, slowly producing comforting stimuli.

"Ha…! Ahu, nn… haa, haa… It's really hard… ha…! Huu, huu… nn…! Hau…"

I pull back my hips, then push my thing against her as hard as I can.

The sensation of wet thighs and a crotch, her flesh devour me. I try to rub against her clit.

" 'Uua… ah, nn…! Aha…! Hi! Nn… uhu… aaa… haa, haa, haa…' "

As I rub my shaft against her several times, more fluid starts pouring out of rough breathing is now filling the bath.

" 'Nna… ahu, hu…! Uuuuunnn..! Hu! Nn… ah, ah, haa… haa, haa…' "

" 'J-Jared… don't rub… so much…! Ha… I'll… before you… stick it in…haa…!' "

"Then want me to stick it in? Or make you cum like this…"

" 'I want to try something…' "

Suddenly, Neptune's fingers twist around me. She lovingly rubs my thing between her thighs.

Repositioning herself, she kneels before my standing rod and moves closer.

"Whoa…!" I was expecting for a blowjob but I didn't expect this.

Holding up her breasts together, she positions it above and brings it down, appearing my shaft right in the middle. Soft, warm mounds envelope my thing from both sides.

" 'Is it… good?' " she rubs my dick up and down.

"Yeah… uu…"

" 'Nn…*Lick*…*Smack* *Smack*…*Kiss*…nn, *Kiss*…' "

Her tongue pecks at me as she lovingly, and again with the teasing, kisses my tip.

She looks up to me, gauging my expression.

" '*Lick*…*Smack* *Smack!* Nn… *Slrp* *Smack*… nn… *Smack* *Slrp*' "

The pleasure slowly clouds my mind. Saliva traverses the whole of my shaft, soap bubbles mix with it. She pulls her mouth back and pushes harder with her breasts, and slides it up and down.

" 'Nn…! Haa, haa… nn, nn… hau, nn…' "

My thing appears and disappears between them. The soap smoothen her breast movements.

"Gh…!"

" 'Nn….! Nhu…! Nn… haa, haa, haa… Jared… nn, nn…!' "

Nearing my climax, she starts to shake her breasts much faster.

" 'Nnn! Nn… nn! Ha! Ahu, nnn… It's… throbbing… nn…! Ha…!' "

" 'Nnhu…! Ha… ahu, nn…! Haa, haa, haa… nn…! Nn! Nn! Nn!' "

"Guh…"

My chest constricts from the stimulation around my lower body. I grit my teeth trying to hold it in.

"Neptune…!"

" 'Mm… amf, *Slrp!* *Smack* *Slrrrp*, Mn, mm…! *Lick!* *Smack!*…' "

Neptune laps on the tip, cornering me from all sides, pushing me to ejaculation.

"Gh…!"

" 'Mmmmmnnnnnn….!' "

Semen surges out into her mouth. Each wave of climax releases more fluid. She accepts it, with a satisfied face.

" 'Nn…*gulp* Mn…! Mm, u….!' "

"Haa, haa…!"

I'm still shaking from the pleasure as Neptune swallows it.

" 'Mmm…*Slrrrp!* *Smack!* *Smack*…mn… *Smack!* *Slurrp!* *Srrp!*… nn...*Gulp!* *Gulp!* ' "

She doesn't let a single drop escape from her mouth and swallows everything that I have.

" 'Nnu… puha…' "

"You know… you're getting more and more of an expert in this department"

" '…Ehehe…' " she smiles triumphant at my praise. I pet her head.

I lift her up and faces the wall, supporting herself with hands. She sticks her butt out to me, inviting me in.

" 'This is kinda embarrassing…' "

"Not to worry, I'll make you forget about that"

" 'Bully…' "

With a grin on my face, I aim with one hand, and rub the tip on her entrance. It spreads open naturally swallowing me in.

" 'Nnha…aaa….' "

Holding her hips, I push through her folds. It sends jolts of pleasure every time I enter her. Eventually, I reached to her deepest.

" 'Jared… you're too deep… Ah!' "

"Doing it in back does feel like that…"

Her insides writhe, pulses and tighten. Pleasure assaults me, making my whole body tense.

Leaning my body, until my torso is touching her back, I give her several kisses on the cheeks and necks and slowly start to shake my crotch in and out of her.

" 'Uuun…! Nn, naa…! Ha! Ah, aaaah! Aannn…! Hu! Nn… ah…!' "

Our crotches are nice and hot. The heat moves from there up through my spine.

"Ha…! Ah! Nnnn! J-Jared! More… more… haa! Ah, n, nnn…!"

Peeking over her shoulder, her crevice wraps around my penis as I enter and exit her open flesh.

"Hau! Hu! Nn… nuu…! Ha! Aaaaah! Nn… nah! Haaa…! Ha!... uu, mnn!"

When I pull out, I end up outside her entrance, revealing part of her insides.

And when I stick it in, my whole dick ends up inside her, like jamming some dam.

" 'Ah! Jared...! Aaah…! Ah, ah…! Aah! Mmn…! Nm… haa, haa' "

Neptune leans on the wall, holding on for dear life. Her moans and my movements eventually sync.

" 'Hiu! Nn…! Nn, nn! Nn…! Nhu…! Ha…! Hau… hu! Haa! Mm, mmm..! Mn…!' "

" 'Mm…! Ha…! Nuu! Ah! Ah, ah, ha...! Aaaaah…! Ah! Ahn! Nn! Ha…!' "

" 'Ah! Ha! Ha…! Ha…haaa…! Nn! Huuuu! Uha…! Haa, ah, ha…!' "

" 'Ha… uu, nnn…! Huuu..! Nuu, it's… to good… my body's… going numb…!' "

The pleasure must be so high that speaks absentmindedly. Holding her tightly from behind, I move my hips, lurching on our bodies to climax.

" 'Ah…Ah, ah, ah! Haaaaaa…!' "

"Nn! Ah! Ah! Ah! Aaaaah! Ha, aaah! Nnu… ha! Aaaaaah! Hiunnn! Nnn…!"

I use my whole body, and slam my hips on her butt several times. Each time, her reactions are getting louder.

" 'Ah! Mnnn! Hu… mnn! Haaaa! Ah, aan! Uaa… hi! Uha! Ah, ah, ah… Nuuu…!' "

A harsh exchanged. Bubbling fluids pour out of our orifice. We're both covered in sweat, immersed in the pleasure.

" 'Haa! Ah! Ja… red…! Huu! Nn, mna… mnn! Ha!' "

"Uu…!"

She closes her thighs and tightens around me. The pleasure suddenly rise, and her inside suck on me vigorously.

" 'More… m-more…mn! Haaa! Ah, naaaa!' "

My mind grows hazy once more. My body moves instinctively seeking more and more of her.

" 'Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Aan! Aaannn…! Hua… hua… ah, ha...! Ahn….!' "

"Guh…!"

I shake my hips violently. Her breasts shake like ripe fruits. Her hard nipples send sweat drops flying.

" 'Haaaa! Ah! Aaah! Aaaaaah! Huun! Mn, nnah! Huaaaaa…!' "

We both breathe roughly, enduring the pleasure. I reach both of my hands to envelop on top of hers. I see flashes of light, and my mind cuts out.

" 'Ha! Aaah! I-I'm…! Hau…! Ah, auuuu…! Jared, I'm about…! To…!' "

"Me too…!"

Using the last bit of strength left in me, I thrust into her violently. Waves of pleasure wash over us toying with us on the verge of climax.

" 'Ha! Aaah…! I-I'm cum… ming…!' "

"Nn…!"

In one final stroke, I push deep into the womb of her entrance.

" 'Hiaaaaaaaaa….!' "

"Gh…!"

As she climaxes, the complex pleats hidden inside her crevice pulsate, guiding me to cum at the same time.

" 'Ah, aaaah…! Ah…! Ha, ah…!' "

Thick, hot, white fluids shoot inside her womb. Her flesh sucks wrings it out of me, voraciously sucking on me.

" 'Ah... haa, haa… Ah!' "

"Whoops… got ya woman…"

Her legs gave out and I catch her just in time. We sit on the wet tiled floor of the bathroom, cuddling.

" 'My legs are numb…' "

"I did do you hard…" I lightly massage her legs.

" '*Sigh*… How did I ever fall for you…' "

"Dunno. Personality I guess…?"

" 'Ehe… No one would like a bully like you' "

"Maybe my charm then"

" 'Maybe…' " she teasingly said.

" 'Can we stay like this? My legs are still numb' "

"Whatever you want"

I wrap my arms around her gently, feeling each other's heartbeats.


	38. Chapter 38

Chapter 38:

"Home base!"

"We're back" both of us announce as we enter the living room.

"Hmmhmm… "

"Aaaah… Soft fluffy things… ehehehe…"

Ooookay… Let's all calm down for two seconds and observe carefully. Why is Vert here? No more importantly, _how _did she even get here? For starters, no one from the Basilicom ground floor informed us, or rather Neptune, that Lady Green Heart of Leanbox would be visiting. That would lead to the conclusion that she somehow slipped through security and made her way here.

"Vert, stop drowning my li'l Sis with your voluptuousness!" Neptune scrambles to retrieve her sister.

"Hey, don't be too loud… Shhhhh" from out of nowhere, Peashy came out from mini-Histy's room.

"*Sigh*… Making them sleep is tiring ヾ(。￣□￣)ﾂ" mini-Histy came out hovering and tired.

"Plutie, Histy! We're back!" Neptune greeted while in the middle of retrieving her sister.

"Welcome back!"

"Welcome back you two. (*^▽^*) How was your date yesterday?"

"It was great! Jared was so energetic las-! MMgmmmf!" I scramble over to Neptune and cover her mouth before she can say anymore.

"How luuucky… I want to go on a date too!" Plutie said her jealousy.

"But you don't have boyfriend..." mini-Histy said.

"I can date Neppy!"

"Um… I appreciate the invitation but I can't really date a girl, can I?"

"Awww…" a sad Plutie is a sad.

"Look at what you did. You made the girl sad…"

"Nepu? Why are you not taking my side?" she asks me.

"I am on your side. Just do something together like you always do, a date is about having fun after all"

"Uuugh… When you say something like that then… Alright, Plutie! Let's make some more dolls!"

"Really? But I don't think you've ever sewed something…"

"Hmhmmm~! You underestimate my power. C'mon let's go make some dollies!"

"Oookay!" the two heads off to their room with a grin on their face.

"Hmhmm… Now that the obstruction is gone, why don't you enjoy my hug, Nepgear" Vert said as her embrace gets more tighter.

"Aaaah… They're so soft..." Nepgear is on cloud 9.

"Geez, how often does she sneak in here?" turning to the source of the voice. I see that Noire is right behind me.

"You're one to talk. You're also the same as her, Noire"

"And how am I the same?"

"For starters, you're a Lastation CPU. Visiting another country's CPU shows how lonely you are"

"I'm not lonely!" you know, teasing this woman, whichever counterpart, is really fulfilling. Now I know the reason why Neptune teases her so much.

"Oh really? Then why are you here? Same reason as Vert?" I interrogate her.

"I didn't come here for Plutia or anything like that!" bingo…

"How sad, she just left a little while ago"

"I… uh… I forgot there was something I have to do, bye!" without giving a second look she ran off to the elevator and it proceeds to bring her down.

"You just told her a lie. (-_-"

"I couldn't help myself. I'll pay her back with some lunch today" stepping into the kitchen, I open up the fridge and think what I should make for lunch.

"You're not going to rest? You just came back. ゜◇゜）" a concerned Histy said.

"I would if I could, but everyone is busy right now"

"I see… *Sigh*… You really are Neptune's complete opposite"

"We get that a lot" hmm… looking at the fridge, we have a plastic container full of white shrimps and another one full of pork.

"Want some shrimp?"

"I would love to (＾∇＾)"

"…Hey"

"Hm?" as I had taken out the shrimp and pork, mini-Histy and I turn to another visitor for the day.

"…I just saw Noire running away" Blanc said.

"Welcome Blanc; and that would be my fault" I tell her honestly as I prepare some green onions and shallots.

"...What did you say to her?"

"I said that Plutie is out" I openly confess as I take out a cutting board and a knife. And prepare those on the table counter so I can talk to her properly.

"…Oh really?" she asked.

"Really. Anyway, what have you got there?" I ask her as I proceed to cut the feet and tail of the said shrimps on the board.

"...Here, you can open it if you like" she brings out a box from god knows where and place it on the table counter.

"I wonder what's inside? (＃⌒∇⌒＃)" mini-Histy settles herself and opens the box. Hot steamy, brown round objects appear.

"Manju's?" I ask for confirmation.

"...Those are post-Valentine's gift" she said.

"I see, at least you're honest" I comment.

"...I guess, where's Plutia?"

"She's with Neptune making dolls in there room"

"I'll tag along with them. Where are the babies?" she asked a follow-up question.

"There sleeping" mini-Histy answered.

"...I see" she heads off to Neptune and Plutie's room.

* * *

*Knock!* *Knock!*

"Hey, lunch is ready" I call out to the girls inside the room.

"'kay! Hey Plutie don't let him see it?"

"But where should I hide it?"

"...Why don't you hide it inside a bag or something?"

"But he'll notice it and the surprise won't be a surprise anymore!"

"...Then you can just leave it here and get it when you want to give it"

"Oooh! You're such a genius Blanc!"

"Blanny is a genius!"

"...O-of course, I am the oldest"

"Too bad it didn't kick in during the whole Lowee thing"

"Well sorry for my poor business decisions"

...Um, okay. I don't know what are they planning to give me but my curiosity is beginning to be piqued. But as a passerby, I must exercise to be gentleman and pretend that I didn't anything of it.

The door opened and out came the three. Neptune and Plutie have smirk on their face clearly saying 'I have surprise for you'. Blanc has her usual doll-esque poker face. We all proceeded to the dining room where our food is already waiting.

"Oooh, manju's!" Neptune noticed the box of manju's in the middle.

"Thanks for the snack Blanny!" Plutie says her gratitude.

"...No problem"

"Anyway, why don't we start eating? (⌒▽⌒) "

"What about the babies?" Nepgear said her concern.

"They're sleeping right now, and it would be bad for them if we wake them up" I said.

"Ja-Ja!"

"Food! Food!"

"Hey don't run!"

"I take back what I said"

Looking to where those baby voices came from, the three toddlers have miraculously crawled out of mini-Histy's room and is now in the living room. These toddlers have a nose for food I'll give them that.

"C'mon you spoiled little girl we're going to eat shrimp today" I carry baby-Compa.

"Owww! P-ko, I'm not food!"

"Neptuna taste like tuna!"

"I don't taste like that. And it's Neptune" Neptune carried baby-Peashy.

"Here Iffy, I'll feed you"

"'Kaay!" Plutie carried baby-Iffy.

We sit on the chairs and proceeded to take our portion of my caramelized shrimp and pork. I have to take a little bit of an extra since I have a baby on my lap.

"Hey, why is there an extra plate?" Nepgear asks.

"Oh that's for..."

"..._haa, haa_... _haa, haa_... _haa, haa_..."

"Nepu! Oh it's Noire! What fancy you here?" Neptune greeted from her seat beside me.

"Hey, why did you tell me a lie!?" she ignores Neptune's fun greeting entirely and interogated me instead.

"I'm sorry telling you lie. Have a seat and eat this lunch I made"

"I don't want to eat. And I'm not hungry!"

*GRRRRRRRRR!*

"... You're stomach doesn't agree" Blanc said.

"Ugh.. Fine, I'll eat" Noire gave 'hmph!' at the end and she sits on the empty chair.

"Geez, Noire is so easy to read, huh?"

"Right you are Neptune. C'mon let's start eating"

"Thanks for the food!" everyone stated as we all eat.

"Say 'aaah'" I bring spoon full of shrimp towards baby-Compa.

"Aaah...mpf... It's so tasty Ja-Ja!" baby-Compa said happily.

"Glad to see you like it, want some now?" I ready another spoonful of shrimp and pork.

"Aaah... mpf..." she swallows another spoonful.

"P-ko! Don't squirm around like you always do!"

"Tasty! Tasty!"

"Geez, you're like this every time Jared cooks"

"I do understand her" Vert added.

"He's cooking does taste delicious than any other chef I have ever encountered"

"...Ampf... the shrimp tastes good" Blanc compliments as she takes another shrimp.

"*Sigh*... Why did you became her boyfriend of all people?" Noire questioned.

"Because I love the woman, that's why. Here another one..."

"Aaah... mpf..." she eats another spoonful. Damn, babies are adorable.

"But he is more thoughtful than what I have initially thought of him (￣エ￣)"

"Jarey's a good guy!" Plutie exclaimed.

"Him lying to me is thoughtful, how?" Noire's anger run deep.

"Hmm... I see why he's thoughtful" Vert noticed.

"...I noticed it as well" Blanc is as well.

"Me too" Nepgear also said.

"I feel like I'm being put in the wrong. So tell me why?" giving up, Noire asked.

"The shrimp doesn't have any shells" Vert answered.

"Aren't shrimp being eaten without shells"

"When you cook shrimp it's often that you leave the shells on" Nepgear added.

"Yeah, so?"

"...He removed the shell for us so we can eat the shrimp properly" Blanc added.

"Isn't that something that most cooks do?"

"...And during that time, you were running back here"

"Eh… Ah… I see…"

"See? He is really thoughtful (^∇^)"

"Say 'aaah' Iffy" Plutie extends a spoonful of food towards baby-Iffy's mouth.

"Aaah… mpf"

"…and it'll be easier for the children to eat" Blanc added that last part.

Their observation was quite right. I'm not going to prattle it around but that was almost everything that I had planned. And it would be very bad if Noire came back without a reward of her effort to run around all over Planeptune looking for nothing.

"Well... I guess I judged too early"

"HmHmmm! Jared getting some praises means they're recognizing he's good parts" Neptune said.

"I am a passerby after all" a passerby has many traits after all.

"You keep saying that… Okay, can ya pwease hold P-ko for me?" she gives baby-Peashy to me.

"It'll be a squeeze on my lap, just hurry up"

Neptune got up and headed somewhere. I can hear Plutie giggling for some apparent reason. Neptune runs back with her hands behind her back and having a giant grin on her face.

"Okay you two, you get extra pudding if you cover Jared's eyes for me" she said to the two toddlers on my lap.

"'kay!"

"What the-!?" the two toddlers used their small baby hands to cover my eyes. I can still see from the cracks of my eye lids though.

"You can open them now!"

"Ta-Da! Introducing, mini-Jared!"

"…" in front of me, is a plush doll modeled after me. All of my usual features resembles the embodiment of a passerby.

"A plush doll of me. You made it?"

"Mhm, I don't have any Valentine's day gift to you so I had Plutie teach me how to make one"

"All the way to your muscley… eh? Why do you look fat in here?"

"…She was too engrossed in putting some stuffing in there to add more 'muscles'" Blanc said.

"And I told Neppy not to add anymore"

"Gueeeh!? Now Jared will be fat before I do"

"Crap woman, don't say something so foreboding" I don't want to get fat too.

"In any case though, thanks for the doll, Neptune" I do owe her a _lot_ of things. But seeing her making stuff for me shows that she doesn't mind as long I stay with her. Of course, I won't take that for granted.

"C'mon let's continue eating or the manju's are going to get cold after"

"'Kay!" Neptune seated beside me once more and I gave her back baby-Peashy to feed.

"Neptune?"

"What?"

"*Smack*"

"Ehe... what was that for?"

"Nothing"

The plush doll on the table was the only witness of that kiss.


	39. Chapter 39

Chapter 39:

_Lowee, of the dimension where Neptune were originally come from, is a snowfield city full of fun as its theme. As such they even made an effort into making it snow all day, every day. Of course some appreciates that, but for those that have complications they often migrate to Planeptune since it's a nation that isn't required to cross the ocean. But they're faith is still with Lady White Heart…_

_On the streets right now, are two twins strolling around the snowfield city._

"_Patrol, patrol, patrolling with Rom! Yay!"_

"_Ram… You don't need to shout so much..."_

"_Who cares!? We're going out here doing something good, so we should do it TO THE MAX!"_

"_But if people see us, that'd be embarrassing…"_

"_Oh, c'mon! You can't say that kind of stuff for everything! I'll be a sweet CPU eventually, so you gotta get used to being seen by your people"_

"_B-but…"_

"_CPU, huh…?" it seems the Rom and Ram's talk has caught three unwanted pair of eyes._

"_These kids… are CPU's?"_

"_So they said. In that case…" the three edge closer to them._

"_Huh? Wh-What's happening?" Rom noticed._

"_Oh, I get it. It's a shock to see two cute little CPU's just strolling through town" Ram said._

"_Hehehe. Okay, if you wanna become our followers, then…"_

"_CPUs… are not needed!"_

"_Because CPU's exist, the world is in misery…!"_

"_Yeah! If only you were all gone…!"_

"_Huh? What's wrong with these dummies?" Ram said. A tinge of panic in her voice._

"_Th-They must be part of that citizen's group…" Rom concluded._

"_They have kinda scary eyes… Why? Aren't CPUs something you should want to believe in?"_

"_But this group of people is opposed to us, so…"_

"_Grab them! Grab those rotten CPU's!"_

"_Don't let them escape!"_

_"We don't need a nation under the CPU's control!"_

"_Uh-oh! What should we do!?" Ram is now panicking._

"_L-Let's run…!" and so I Rom._

"_Yeah, I knew that! C'mon, we gotta run away!"_

"_Okay…!"_

_The twins run. Knowing they can't shook them in speed, they corner to corner shaking them off through alleyways and crowded people. And every time they turn back they can still their pursuers inching a bit closer to them._

_Then they hit a breakthrough. Apparently there was this old toy shop that they really liked. The old grandma that runs it also liked the twins since, as sad as it sounds, they're the only ones who buys and plays with said toys._

_The twins sprint as fast as their feet could take them. Reaching the old shop, it was close, the shutter doors are down._

"_N-no way…"_

"_R-ram… it's not locked…"_

"_Eh…?" shutter doors are usually accompanied with an industrial padlock. But to their luck it wasn't._

"_Hrrrg…!" Ram crouches and tries to lift the shutter doors._

"_I-it's too heavy…!"_

"_Hmmmg…!" Rom also helps._

"_C'moooon…!"_

"_Hua!"_

_*JRRRR!*_

_The twins lifted the shutter. It was small but small enough to fit them through. They squeeze themselves inside and shut the shutters. The inside of the shop was dark, but they don't care. It's better than being captured by those people._

"_haa, haa… We… we shook them off…" Ram panted._

"_*sniff* *hic*" Rom can't hold back her tears._

"_Don't cry, Rom…"_

"_But… it was really scary…"_

"_I was scared and wanted to cry too, but I'm being tough and holding it in!"_

"_Waaaaaaah… Waaaaaaah!"_

"_I just said not to do that… Ugh, *Sniff*, now I'm gonna cry. What's their problem!?"_

* * *

"…_And that's what happened unfortunately…_"

"*Sigh*…" I rub my temples.

At some time now, in the middle of the night, there is the holographic screen, courtesy of mini-Histy, showing big-Histy in the other dimension. She was done telling me a recent event what had just recently happened.

"What happened afterwards?"

"_We were able to apprehend the three. But…_"

"That isn't enough evidence to put the whole group down"

"_And lately we've been getting reports of this…_"

"Hrm…" no matter how many we apprehend more will show up. If that's a the case, the usual 'kill the source' is good move right about now.

"_And as you said, this isn't enough to bring them down_"

"And we still can't find Rei Ryghts, huh…" so killing the source isn't going stand.

"_I'm sorry for calling you for this_"

"It's fine, Histy. Meddling with problems is what a passerby is known for" a straight lie.

"_I see, so what do you suggest_"

"I say we do nothing for now"

"_But if we continue to wait…_"

"What I mean is, let's not do something big and slowly chip them away"

"_I see…_"

"If there planning to make a country let them. It'll be too risky for everyone if we do something big"

"_Because it would attract attention_"

"And more haters... so tell them to regain as much people as they possibly can without doing anything big. While apprehending those members who are just shitting things up"

"_But I thought you said not to do something big?_"

"What I mean to say is, we stray neutral for now"

"_Alright, I'll tell the other CPU's of what you suggested_"

"*Sigh*… And here I thought you wanted to chat with me…" I relax a bit.

"_That was what I originally intended but it was bad news over the other and I couldn't help it_"

"The worrying type, I see…"

"_How is your vacation?_"

"Vacation? When did this became a vacation?"

"_I told you to relax, right?_"

"And does the word 'relax' involves taking care of 3 children?"

"_3 children? Oh, IF and Compa's counterparts…_"

"Yeah… apparently I have been assigned to teach them some basic stuff"

"_Isn't that a good thing? You are going to get married after all_"

"Well…" now that I think about it, years down the line Neptune and I will be having our own toddlers, huh.

"…True, but with those three, they're giving me headache's to think about"

"_I'm sure you'll be doing fine_"

"You give me too much credit, Histy"

"_That just shows how I feel secured whenever you're on the case_"

"I'm a passerby after all"

"_Speaking of headaches, you aren't having any?_"

"Fortunately, no. And I haven't had those static dreams lately either"

"_Then you're going to be fine, probably_"

"...yeah, probably" I remember that night.

"_But please call immediately if the symptoms are showing up_" I nod deeply.

"_And how is Neptune doing?_"

"She's been the happiest girl alive as far as I could tell"

"_She must really miss you then_"

"She missed me very"

"_When is the wedding?_"

"Dunno yet. She said that she wanted to have _everyone _to attend"

"_That is very much like Neptune to suggest that_"

"There is one other topic that I want to bring up"

"_What is it..._"

"It seems that in this dimension, CPU's aren't born as a CPU"

"_Hm? Then how do they become a CPU_"

"They swallow something known as a CPU memory"

"_I see..._"

"Here's the real shocker, it is said that it's a 50/50 chance that you'll become one. The other is that you'll become a monster of sorts"

"_Isn't that a heavy wager to become one?_" she said, shocked.

"It is. So I ate one, and my body rejected it like some tasteless food"

"_Is it because you are _special_?_"

"Probably. I just wanted to bring it up and get it out of my system" it is something worth thinking about though. My instincts force me to think about it some more.

"_I guess it is getting late. Good night, Jared_"

"Good night to you to, Histy"

The call ended and holographic screen in front of me disappeared moments after.

"Good night and thanks, Histy"

"Good night to you too, Jared. (*´ο`*)" she yawned once more and sleepily hovered towards her room.

I watch the mistress moon through the glass sliding door, letting the night move on.


	40. Chapter 40

Chapter 40:

Objectively time doesn't actually have any meaning nor does it have a relative speed. The only thing we have is a just an agreement of the concept of time. Thus Albert Einstein said in his Theory of Relativity that time is nothing more than the subject's perception of time; whether it moves quickly or slowly. That's why the term 'time flies when you're having fun' came about because you don't mind the movement of time as you go about your merry way. Truthfully though, the Theory of Relativity can be so romantic-

-and sad at the same time.

"Hiya! Cat punch!"

"Nepu! Hey, that's dangerous! You're so strong for a kid, but I'm still way stronger" what's sad is that Neptune is about to have her 'Nepu' handed to her by a 7-year old Peashy.

"Peashy, beat up Nep!" 7-year old Iffy coaches.

"Do your bestest, Nep-Nep!" 7-year old Compa cheered.

"Neppy, you better not make anyone cry…" Plutie reminded.

"And also use her wrist against her…" I tell her a strategic move.

"And of course, they're playing with their own kind" Noire commented.

"Hahaha… Neptune's secret skill is her ability to get along with absolutely anyone" oh really, Nepgear?

"…The kids have grown" Blanc said.

5 years have passed in this dimension. I wouldn't have noticed it considering that I've got my hands full. Neptune, for one, because we're still aren't formally married yet. Sad, but if you spend 5 years with your fiancée doing nothing but do some random activity, you'd think we already have.

The second, the toddlers have grown. Raising children is mentally draining, I know that but taking care of 3 children at once is a bit too much. Of course, there is everyone to rely on. But the only thing they know, no offense though, is how to feed them and play with them. Playing isn't all that bad; kids need all the love they need. But if you don't teach them some basic morality, some points about good and bad, how to respect their elders and how to take care of themselves, they'll grow rather spoiled and eventually be a delinquent. And that's where everyone assigned me to that department. In other words, I'm playing the actual 'raising' part here.

"They grow up so fast… I am no longer able to handle them. (￣ｪ￣;)" isn't that because you're small? No offense though.

"Well at least they were easy to raise" I thought I was in for a bigger headache. Surprisingly, if you teach them by promising to give them a prize after, they'll do it without a second thought, which was easy on my part.

"You were little, Vert…? Hehehe, that's soooo silly…"Plutie said.

"What!? How is it silly?" she gasps.

"For one, you keep sneaking in here" I said.

"It's amazing how you never get tired of sneaking over here" Noire added.

"I only wish to see my cute little sister. Come closer, Nepgear. Let me get a look at you" Vert hugs Nepgear from behind.

"Goodness, again with the hugs!?" Neptune, you're little sister is being stolen again.

"Jeez. Everyone's screwing around and ignoring their duties as CPU's"

"…For someone aiming to be Plutia's closest friend, you have no right to judge others' work ethics" Blanc said.

"Nice rebut…" I silently comment. And also that 'aiming to be her closest friend' is funny.

"Sh-shut up! You're the same!"

"Um, everyone, perhaps you should get some work done… Even though my saying it is useless…" mini-Histy said.

"A little delay in my work is fine. If us sisters work together, we can fix Leanbox in no time flat!" you woman, stop claiming that she's your sister.

"Aaaaah… Once again, I feel the soft warmth of two large objects against me… Mmmm…"

"Jaweed! Let's play!" Peashy runs over to me.

"First, you're sweaty, so turn your back to me first"

"'Kaay!" she turns around. I lift up her shirt from behind, pull out a towel from the side, and wipe her back.

7-year old Peashy clothes consist of a one piece short jumpsuit with a bee-like design accompanied with star designs on the lower half and also on the sleeves. She wears large red shoes and boxing gloves in the shape of bear claws.

"Ja-Ja, let's play!" kid-Compa said as she runs over to me.

7-year old Compa has her short creamy hair with a 'C' hair clip on. She wears a pink blouse with white linings on the center, collar and bottom with heart shape buttons in the middle and a ribbon around the chest area. Her sleeves and skirt are checkered with red and pink and wore a red shoes and white socks.

"Jared, play with us" and kid-Iffy said.

7-year old Iffy has short hair and still retains the Leafy Bow. She's wearing a coat similar to her adult counterpart but it's different since it has a black collar and has colored button. Under the coat, she wears gray short overalls with her initials inscribed on the bottom right part. She has a pink cellphone on a pocket in the overalls and a graphic of an orange fish-like monster near it. An orange bandage is applied on her left knee. She's wearing medium-length black socks and low tops that have a blue, black, and white color way with some silver trimming.

"Fine, what do you want to play? And please let it not be…"

"Wrestle with Peashy!" they both said.

"You know, I didn't raise you to become like this…" have I become such a terrible guardian or is it an outside source?

"Peashy beat up Jared!" kid-Iffy commanded. And for some reason, Peashy is winding up her fist.

"Don't get caught by his tickling, Peashy" kid-Compa coached.

"Here I go! Cat-punch!" her fist flies towards my face.

"Oops… too slow…" with a simple move to the side, she really does have a strength of a barbell lifter. I catch her sides and tickle her relentlessly.

"Ahahahahahahaha!" she laughs non-stop as I continue to tickle her.

"Oh no, Compa let's tackle him!"

"Okay!"

From the sides two kids are about to tackle me. I let go of Peashy and lower myself to face kid-Iffy's tackle.

"Hiiya!"

"…!"

It just feels like a pillow just hit me in the abdomen. Her small arms try to wrap around me, but sadly it's too small. Reaching down towards her elbows, I lightly press on her ulnar nerves with my thumb.

"Hwaaa?" the small jolt of numbness made her arms loose. I reach towards her sides…!

"Hiya!"

*Thonk!*

"Guh…! I lost…? Uuuh…" I was careless way too careless, I forgot about kid Compa and she hit me from behind.

*Thump*

I fall down to the floor, lifeless.

"Yay we won! We won!"

"We won!"

"My master plan worked!"

"Okay, okay. You three, you did it. I admit defeat" I raise my hands.

"We want some prize"

"I want pudding" the kids demanded their prize.

"After we have dinner tonight, I'll make something" I raise my hand as I say it.

"Yaay!"

*Clap!*

All three of them high-fived.

"C'mon you three, let me wipe you, you won't play any longer if you don't"

"'Kaaaay!" all three run towards me as I procured a towel from out of nowhere and wipe their faces and backs.

"…And they're quite attached to him" Blanc said from the sidelines.

"Well he is the one practically parenting them. (︶ω︶)"

"What are you guys talking about? It's Jared! He can be a good house husband, when we get married" Neptune said proudly.

"It's really a mystery how you two came to be. Σ（￣□￣；）"

"Oh yeah, your sister is going to paradise by the way" I tell Neptune as I point with my chin to the subject of my sentence.

"Hey, wait! Nepgear, stop getting brainwashed by the erotic power of gigantic bosoms!" Neptune noticed her sister is in bliss in between of Vert's tits.

"Hmhmhmm. Your miniscule raisins are unable to embrace her head in a relaxing, motherly fashion" Vert curtly said.

"*mumble, grumble*" whoa, whoa, did I just hear her say 'I'll raisin your face'? What a dark fiancée I have.

"Neppy Jr. is sooo lucky… Noire, I want you to gimme a big mommy hug like that, too…" Plutie requested Noire.

"Huh? N-Not happening! I couldn't do something that embarrassing…" the dishonest girl has spoken.

"Oh, okey-dokey. How about you, Blanny?"

"…I don't care. No… I welcome it"

"Yaaaaaay…! Squeeze me, Blanny!" Plutie ran over and the two hug tightly.

"I don't… have enough to squeeze you with…"

"I… oh…" the dishonest girl is in distress.

"…Heh"

"What? Why're you smirking like that!?"

"…Heh, heh"

"Grr, dammit! Stop smirking! Stop making that face!" isn't it your fault Noire? So why are you mad at this?

"Ah, geez everyone is so huggy now. Guess I'll just hug Jared from behind!"

"Whoops"

"Squeeeeze!" Neptune hugs me tightly from behind.

"Um, everyone…? (/∇/)"

"What's up? Your voice sounds strained. Cheering at a heavy metal concert again?" Neptune replied.

"Meh, I bet she was screaming at the top of her lungs from a cockroach or something" I added.

"No. And no. You all act like such children... It is terrible! ( ;°Д°)"

"Group hug on Histoire!"

"Huggie-huggie!"

"Hug!"

"It hurts…! Please do not hug me any tighter than this! ( ;°Д°)"

"Goodness, stop! You mustn't squeeze Histoire like that, kids!"

"Her heart is popping out of her mouth! Her heart! Whoa, let her go for real!"

"Holy crap! She's about to turn into a waffle!" Nepgear, Neptune and I sync in a panic. And what the hell did I just said?

"Ooookaaaaay" the three of them let go. Sigh, it's a good thing they listen immediately

"*cough* *hack* I was almost turned into a pancake… (TωT)"

"Ohhh, this and that… It is all stemming from you all shunning your duties! Σ（￣m￣"

"Aw, c'mon. That sounds like you're trying to make up stuff so we look bad" Neptune replied. I want to reply to this as well, but I'm not a big enough asshole to do that, probably.

"Uh-huh, totally making it up… I'm always working soooo hard…"

"Plutia doesn't work. Ever" kid-Iffy spoke out.

"She loves naps!" Peashy also said.

"She naps more than us!" kid-Compa added.

"Aww, that was our little secret…" how can that be a secret if we see that every day?

"Secret or not, I bear witness to it every single day" exactly what I have saying Histy.

"Your secrets have been exposed. Plutie… mocked by children… Me, on the other hand…!" Neptune puffed out her chest in pride as she waits for a positive response.

"Nep is a poopy CPU"

"Poo CPU!"

"Poo CPU! Neptune is a poo CPU!"

"A what!? A poopy CPU!?"

"Mpfh…!" hahahaha. Perfect! Too perfect! Kids are brutally honest to what they see anyway.

"Heh. C pe-ewwwww" Noire laughs through her nose.

"It's almost _too_ perfect" Blanc added.

"Children can be so blunt" Vert said.

"I did taught them that honest is a good thing"

"H-Hey, you little trouble makers! Where did you learn such awesome and high-brow comedy!?" Neptune approached, put her hands on her hips and interrogated.

"Gear said it first"

"Ge-Ge taught us"

"Huh!? N-No I didn't!" we all turn to the accused little sister.

"Oooh. Shots fired!" I can't help but laugh through my nose.

"Nepgear did… Is that right…?" the big sister is shocked.

"No, I mean it. Um, well, I _did_ say that a bad CPU is called a C pe-ewww as a poop joke, but…"

"She said Neptune is kinda poopy at her job, but that's what makes her cute, so it's okay!" Peashy added kerosene.

"Th-That… I did say, yes. But I didn't say it as a put-down…!" haha this is too funny! I want to laugh so hard.

"Hm?" I noticed a single a paper coming down from the heavens. It gently sways over to me as I catch it. The single paper has something written on it.

'_Nepgear gained the "Gossiping Guppy" Affinity!_'

"Yo Nepgear. You have the Gossiping Guppy Affinity, apparently" I voice out what I read.

"Oh, goodness… Not another one!" Nepgear has eyes of a surprised fish.

"Another one? Oh…" another paper falls on me. I read its contents.

'_Depending on the situation Nepgear finds herself in, she may learn various other unhelpful things_'

"…Right. That sounds really stupid…" yeah it does sound stupid. Who's the guy throwing these papers anyway?

"Nepgear, Nepgear… I believed in you… I believed in you…" Neptune had been betrayed.

"You've got it all wrong! It's a big misunderstanding, Sis!"

"So basically, when you hang out with the kids, you just bag on Plutia and Neptune" Noire concluded.

"That's soooo not cool…"

"I thought this nation would amount to something with Nepgear and Jared around. Boy, is my face red…" why am I included in that Noire?

"But whatever. It just means Lastation will stay on top" she adds with a confident voice.

"…Since when did you become number one?" Blanc's rage slowly rises.

"I cannot let such as a comment go" and so as Vert's.

"I'm just speaking the truth. My number of shares is pretty overwhelming, after all..." such confidence.

"Other nations are on the decline. One's decaying, one's outdated, and one just ignores the others"

"No matter how you slice it, my nation is rock solid" too much unwanted pride.

"You love bragging, huh? Just keep it in your pants" Blanc's rage is almost at it's peak.

"Fine, I get it. Whenever some hits the nail on the head, the other party gets upset, right?"

"Remain so arrogant and you'll be dethroned before too long" Vert 'calmly' said.

"I'd welcome _some_ challenge. But as it is, nobody can even get on stage with me"

"Noire's getting soooooooooo annoying…" Plutie said her distaste of the matter.

"From my experiences, whenever she makes those big speeches, Noire fails on her execution" Neptune says her observation.

"There is a quote from Ezra Taft Benson that goes 'With pride, there are many curses. With humility, there come many blessings'"

"That one, that one… I can see it now! In a minute, Noire's gonna get smacked in the jowls with something unexpected!"

*Ring!* *Ring!* *Ring!*

True to what Neptune said, now she's turning psychic, the phone on right beside the big flat screen TV rang. Guess our predictions are right then.

"The Basilicom's land line? How rare" Histy says her surprise.

"I'll answer it" Nepgear approaches the ringing phone and took the handset to her ear.

"Um, hello? This is Planeptune, yes… Oh, yes, she's right here…"

"Noire, it's from your Basilicom" Nepgear held out the handset.

"For me? I wonder what happened" Noire took it.

"Hello, Noire speaking. I told you I'm off today. So… huh?" I change in tone.

"The nation's online functionality has been compromised!? How…? Were we hacked?" isn't that already a given?

"Just… Just wait, okay? I'll be there right away!" now she's panicking.

"Terrible new, everyone! Lastation has…!"

"Oh. Something caught up with you" Vert said in a 'you deserve it' tone.

"…I wonder when the meaning of 'rock solid' changed" Blanc rubbed that one part in.

"Th-This is no time to rub it in! It has to be the Seven Sages!" Noire concluded.

"'What kills the skunk is the publicity it gives itself' a quote from Abraham Lincoln" I said another qoute.

"The fall hath toppled the pride of Noire, like indigestion whenst thou eateth too much ice cream…"

"What the hell are you saying, woman?" I have no idea what Neptune just said.

Wooooooow, you two sound super smart and classy" Plutie is amazed by the two of us.

"B-But, you all…! Ugh, fine! I can handle a tiny problem like this just fine on my own!" Noire runs away with tears slowly building in her eyes. Guess we teased her a little bit too much.

"Noire! Um, is it okay for her to go on her own, Sis?" Nepgear worries.

"Maybe we went a little too far. I forgot that she can dish it out, but sucks at eating it"

"…Serves her right" Blanc adds.

"Agreed. That girl needs to go through at least one hardship" Vert also adds.

*Ring!* *Ring!* *Ring!*

The phone is ringing again. What is it now?

"Again? Um, hello?" Nepgear takes the call.

"How rare. It usually gathers dust, so this i-abababababababa!" mini-Histy is starting her 'ritual' now.

"Is it my internal phone? Who could it be? ('゜Д゜`)" oh it's your… wait, what?!

"Oh, is this the usual pattern? I have funky feeling about this!" Neptune said another observation.

"Yes, we understand. Everyone, someone's running amok Lowee's Basilicom!" Nepgear announced.

"…What!?" the Lowee Goddess is shocked.

"Yes, I will let her know. Vert, it seems strange monsters have appeared in Leanbox!" Histy announced.

"What was that!?" and is Vert.

"Yeah… As I thought…" Neptune's prediction is right on the money.

"Your bad feeling was spot on" Plutie said.

"…Those asshats are back at it! I'll kill 'em good this time" Blanc's murderous rage is seeping out.

"I cannot forgive another attack on my city. I can't just sit here!" the two runs off.

"Oh, okay. Bye-bye, everyone! Be careful…" Plutie waves goodbye.

"Wow, they cleared out real fast. Maybe things'll quiet down a bit…" Neptune is as relaxed as ever.

"Nep! Are you gonna keep talking!?" kid-Iffy asked in frustration.

"I'm boooooored" kid-Compa said her boredom.

"Let's keep playing!" Peashy demanded.

"So much for the quiet bit. I mean, kids are kids and stuff. Okay, let's get playing!" Neptune readies herself for another tackle.

"Yay! Bring it on!"

"Um, is it okay for you to just… play around… right now?" Nepgear asked.

"Nepgear is right. This is clearly a large-scale attack by the Seven Sages. Planeptune may be next"

"…I doubt it. We're not getting any calls if it's a saturation attack" is it because Planeptune's goddesses are here while the attack started? There is a different reason.

"See, what he said. It's fine, we're the smallest nation, so they'll poo-poo us" I facepalm at Neptune's words.

"Being small makes everything feel more personal…" Plutie said.

"You can't be pleased with the way things are, as a CPU…" that's a nice way to put it Nepgear.

"Even if Planeptune is not in danger, this is no time to play!" mini-Histy announced.

"Please go and help the other CPUs!"

"Bawww, why? It's cool, seriously. They can handle it themselves" Neptune shows signs of laziness.

"Can they…? They're all in a really scary, really dangerous situations… right?"

"Even Plutia is disagreeing with you" Nepgear added.

"And doesn't it make you wonder about what's happening?" I tickle Neptune's curiosity.

"Hmm, yeah, that does kind of make me wonder about it, then"

"Ugh, fine! So I guess in the end, the world needs to be there" um… no… ugh, never mind.

"The two of you may not be enough for my peace of mind. Nepgear?"

"I understand. I'll go as well, so please look after this place, Jared"

"I'm going as well…"

"Um… can you handle it? This isn't like fighting the CPUs last time" Histy worries.

"I haven't had a good workout for the last 5 years. I'm going to rust like iron on water and then fail as a passerby"

"If Jared is with us, then we can beat those baddies in no time sharp" Neptune said.

"Woooow… So we can leave everything to him…?" Plutie asked.

"We can leave him be as take some cake"

"*Sigh*…" at least I'll be able to get my workout right. I stand and get ready to leave.

"Nep-Nep and Ja-Ja are leaving us?"

"For a bit, yeah. We can play for a long time when I get back"

"What Neptune said. So don't get all worried now" I pet kid-Compa's head.

"Oh Histy, can I ask for a favor?"

"What is it?" she hovers towards me.

"Increase security in all of Planeptune. Have guards quadruple check every single being and object here"

"Why-?"

"They're thinning us out, and I'm not the type to take baits willingly. But even if I don't I'm going to bet they'll do something make us get caught in it anyway"

"So that's why you want to come"

"Yeah… so just increase security alright" I then turn my attention to the toddlers. Oh they're not toddlers anymore, my bad.

"You three, before I come back, I want you to take a bath. You'll get double the cake on top of the cake that I promised"

"'Kaaaay!" the three chorused.

"C'mon ladies, let's get rolling"

"Hoooh!"


	41. Chapter 41

Chapter 41:

The world moves dizzyingly fast, a known fact, and the only way to catch up to it is through information. But right now, a single individual has access to all the information he has and wanted that we are practically overloaded. We can accumulate all the info we want, but if we don't practice what we learn then we run the risk of being in illusion of knowledge.

I haven't spent 5 years of frolicking around and parenting/playing with kids. I spent a good amount of my time learning everything about this dimension. Which is why I know how to become a CPU in this dimension works and how I was calm about the Seven Sages' name brought up beforehand. Plus, I got to learn that somewhere out there in the market, someone is selling an _original_ Elvis Presley album.

Ignoring that one useless info I have, all four of us have just arrived in Lastation. The walk was refreshing. Lastation in this dimension is kinda, a bit more "modern futuristic". Although I haven't seen what the other 'Lastation' look like after The Fall. The Lastation here, have sky scrapers here and there. It has that "black" color scheme that does fit well. But it still didn't ditch the industrial theme that it always has. It's probably a stigma.

And right now…Lastation is….

"BLACK HEART DETHRONED! BLACK HEART DETHRONED! BLACK HEART DETHRONED!"

"ARE YOU HEARING US LADY BLACK HEART! NEW SYSTEM MY ASS, BITCH!"

"WE WANT COMPENSATION! WE WANT COMPENSATION! WE WANT COMPENSATION!"

"WE WANT YOU DETHRONED NOW!"

You guessed it, everyone is rioting. A group is shouting at their own individual megaphone. Another is putting up signs everywhere that says 'We WANT COMPENSATION!'. And there is this one man standing on top of a van and shouting at some crowd of people to enlighten them.

"Everyone is sooo energetic!" Plutie said.

"It is so like them when Noire slips up"

"Unfortunately Neptune, that's what human beings are wired to do" we take for granted the good things and bash heavily on a single bad thing.

"But because of that, I'll bet my most gracious pudding that there's going to be free games!" so that's what you're after?

"Goodness, I hope Noire is all right" Nepgear worries.

"With all this stuff happening around I'm sure she isn't" I answer Nepgear honestly.

Judging by how things are going it seems the mobs here are angry about the new system that was implemented a short time ago, being hacked. I have read the specifications of the new network, and it has full of promises. The downside of having a new system is that, obviously enough, you are vulnerable to _future _method of attacks. So that 'new' system will literally be obsolete the day after.

"DETHRONE! DETHRONE! DETHRONE! DETHRONE!"

"NEW SYSTEM SUCKS! NEW SYSTEM SUCKS! NEW SYSTEM SUCKS! NEW SYSTEM SUCKS!"

"Crap, they blocked the road…" when we turned a corner for a straightaway towards the Basilicom, the road is blocked by their mob. If go straight in, god knows what would happen to us. It's fine if I'm alone, but I got girls to worry about.

"Aww, fiddlesticks. We won't be able to reach Noire…" Neptune horizontally puts a hand on her brow and peek at how far the Basilicom is.

"I know, I know. Why don't we fly"

"That's a great idea Plutie! Oookay, Traaans-!"

"Hold your pudding in your hands. We'll be attracting attention if we do" I hold Neptune's shoulder before she transforms.

"Then how are we going to get there?" Neptune asks with disappointment.

"Hrm…" we can go for alleyways, but we'll eventually have to expose ourselves. I can go alone and let them hide somewhere… nah, too risky. Don't get me wrong I trust them to handle on their own. But if a whole group we're to gang up on them, even if with Madam Goddess appearing and scaring the shit out of everyone, simple mathematics will beat all three of them. Plus it'll be bad of Planeptune's already low shares. And sewers are out of the question.

"Hey, I think we can use this box" we turn to Nepgear who is dragging a giant box.

"Where'd you get that?"

"Um, there was this guy hiding inside this box and he said it can fit 4 people in"

"That's one amazing box!" Plutie said.

"So we can be all Tactical Espionage and like!" Neptune is excited.

"…I'm going to sound skeptic but are we even going to fit?"

* * *

"I rest my case, we did fit" and we have room for one more apparently.

Crouching inside this box, all four of us sneak around the mob of people trying to be inconspicuous as we can be. How can a moving box with four pairs of feet under it considered not suspicious? Maybe because the box has medical supplies stamp on it? Sometimes, I just don't know.

"Sneak, sneak, sneak, sneak"

"We're 400 meters before our target, over"

"I think its 500 meters, sis"

"Oh I messed up huh… Correction, 500 meters, over"

"And with everyone talking behind me, I'm surprised we aren't caught already" I look through the handle hole of our box.

We're just a few more meters away from the Basilicom. It's amazing how we are not being suspected at this point. The Basilicom looks more like a bridge and control tower from an aircraft carrier and it has giant glass wings behind it.

"Noire's Basilicom looks so cool, I wish our Basilicom is like that" Plutie wishes.

"Naah, people won't come to the Basilicom anymore if we do" Neptune said.

"Not like anyone is visiting it anyway" I can hear that Nepgear.

Reaching our 10 meter mark before we reach our goal, we hit a snag. Probably the worst part of this whole mob nonsense is the part where everyone is gather in one place, in this case the Basilicom. The mob are gathered around the front of the Basilicom and showing their anger. They really aren't giving a moving box some attention.

"I think we can drop the box now…" I say as I guide the box to an alley.

"Aww, I want to be sneaky some more..." Plutie said.

"Then let's enter some vents and shoot every lightbulb we see" Neptune suggested.

"Let's not do that please" Noire will be furious if she finds out.

All four of us stand up, dropping the box in the process. The stretch their muscles as I do some light warm up.

"1… 2… 3…!" I jump up and grab onto a pipe and climb my way towards a good altitude.

"Oooh, he's monkey alright"

"Amazing! Hey Neppy, let's climb up like that too"

"Um… I don't think we can do that with our lady arms…"

"Isn't it easier to just transform and fly up?" because Nepgear, this is a workout for me. I can't really say that because I'm preoccupied.

Reaching a ledge of the second story, I hang on to it by planting my foot on the wall and grabbing in the ledge with one hand. Surveying the surroundings, I can see people among people within a 10 meter radius of the Basilicom. All of them are doing nothing but just protest and protest.

"Damn… this'll be hard…" if violence breaks out, we're going to get involved in it. Plus, Noire will have a hard time maintaining her nation. What to do?

"Should we just fly?" that would be the best option right now. If we swoop in fast enough without attracting attention we'd be good. But…

"…with this many people I doubt that no one would notice us" the problem with another CPU visiting, in this kind of dire situation from the citizens, is that they will assume some inappropriate things. Like for example, Lastation's CPU is not capable of running a nation or that sort of shit. Plus with me around, a guy no less, this will turn into a scandal.

"Then sneaking head on approach?" the doors inside are closed.

"Backdoor?" I don't know of any.

"…Sigh… hm?" from the side of the Basilicom, away from anyone's eyes, is a truck that secretly came out of Basilicom. I say secretly, because it came out towards an alley.

"How do I get you…?" I can't stop a truck just by telling it to. Hm? Oh wait, I think I can…

"Okay… I'll get this guy fast… before the truck gets too far" I jumped down from the ledge.

"Nepu! Hey don't just jump down!" I surprised a Neptune.

"Sorry, sorry. I've got no time so I want you girls to listen to me, alright?"

"Okay!" the three chorused.

"Here's the plan…"


	42. Chapter 42

Chapter 42:

"Dammit, why do officers are fuckin' powerless against thousands of people!? We're going to get an earful from the chief for Christ's sake!"

An officer scratched his head as he just hides in an alley, watching the crowd of people rebel against Lady Black Heart. Of course, one could understand that 1 man can't face a hundred people. That would be too terrifying for any normal person.

Approaching the officer audibly, I stand next to him and watch the streets roar in their rage.

"You aren't part of this shit?" he asked.

"It's a complete waste of time. These people are too attached to things and think that they can fix the problem by doing this"

"I agree. And they're only giving us officers, some headaches"

"There is a way to reduce that…"

"And that is?"

"This..." I quickly grab the stun gun from his side.

He tries to grab my arm to remove it. With my knuckles, I knock on his forearm, more specifically the Point L-8, causing him pain and releasing his hand from my arm. I take that oppurtunity, take out the stun gun and stick the electrodes on his neck.

"…Medicine for your headache…" I squeeze the trigger…

*ZRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!*

"GRRRRRRRRRR….!"

*THUD!*

"Shit, that was a bit too much…" I quickly pull the body further into the alley away from prying eyes. Then I check his pulse.

"Still alive… See? An answer for your headaches…" I sarcastically said as I quickly take his 92FS handgun and the stun gun. I leave the man lying on the ground with a sprint.

If I'm right about this, I should be able to intercept the truck because of the traffic a few blocks away. I exit the alley to the other side of the block. The street isn't that packed with people but it has some, most are just sitting and minding their own business. Directly on the other side of the street is a peculiar sealed box that may or may not be suspicious.

On the left, is the target truck cruising along the street not minding the mob of people. I walk towards the middle of the asphalt and point the gun high as the truck approaches.

*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*

*SCRRREEEEEEEEEEECH!*

The truck stops right in front of me.

"What the fuck!? Are you trying to kill yourself!?" the driver angrily said.

"Hey, you're going to kill yourself if you don't get out" I point the gun right on his head.

"Tch! Another one, you aren't going sho-!"

*BANG!*

"…" the bullet just grazes his ear.

"Get out. Now" I jerk my head as a gesture.

"Okay, okay! J-Just don't shoot!" he quickly gets out of vehicle and raised his hands, the gun still pointed at him.

"Turn around" he turns around scared to death. I approach him without any noise.

"Now go to sleep"

"Wha-!? GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!" I quickly shock his nape with the stun gun with all of its remaining power.

*THUD!*

"I think that killed him… probably…" I crouch down and feel his pulse.

"Oh, he's still alive? Nice. But damn, you've got one hell of a burn mark here…" I'm having way too much fun with stun gun. But it's out of battery so I'll dispose of it somewhere safe later.

Putting the stun gun safely inside my pocket, I grab onto the shirt of the body and drag him towards the peculiar sealed box.

"Yo, feeling good in there?"

"Yeah, we have some torito's if you like" Neptune answered from within.

"And we have some cokes!" Plutie also answered.

"Okay…? I'm going to do the rest of plan, just leave some for me, okay?"

"Okay! *Num!* *Num!* *Num!* *Num!*" and they continue to eat.

* * *

"Wow didn't think that all three of you will be this light…" it's like pushing empty boxes. Or am I just too strong?

Pushing a cart with just one box on it, I approach the side of the Basilicom where the truck from earlier exited. I'm wearing the driver's clothes, fortunately their uniforms doesn't have any name tags on the chest area.

The shutter doors are open and it seems their checking in some new boxes, a good opportunity.

"Hey man…"

"Hey, what? Where's your truck?"

"About that…those mob tried got in the way, and, yeah, the clutch gone to shit just from pushing through those…" a half truth. The mob did hinder me getting as close as I can, so I just dumped it with the key still in the ignition.

"Shit. Boss is going to kill you…"

"I know. But there is a repair shop nearby and is currently being repaired…" That would probably remove any suspicion of the truck, probably.

"So anyway, this box right here is said to be 'urgent' so I better get this delivered first. I have a name and office floor and number" I show him the clipboard for the delivery.

"Good shot. Just show me some papers…"

"Here" I gave a clipboard where the papers are clipped.

"Hmm… 'kay then you're good…" after signing a few things, he gave me back the clipboard. I push the cart in.

"…How sad that they don't know each other" I would have been screwed right then and there.

I make my way towards the door, where it should probably lead me to the main hall of the Basilicom. Entering the door, I'm met with a white hallway, turning to the right a few meters away. I lock the door behind me.

"I think we're good. You can drop the box disguise now"

"Fwaaaaah! Fresh air!"

"I can breathe again!" Neptune and Plutie both jumped out of the box.

"*Epic sound fresh air taking in*…Haaa… The air feels so nice!" the little sister stretches as she takes in air.

"Sorry for that, you three. I just got to…" a sincere apology.

"It's fine! It's fine! We had fun while we were inside" Neptune assured me.

"Like what?"

"We saw unicorns and stuff!" Plutie answered. Now I'm really interested.

"Um… I think what they meant is that we did some impersonations" Nepgear reinstated the fact. Damn it, now I don't know where to find a legit unicorn.

"C'mon. We'll go to the washroom first, before we go to Noire's room"

* * *

*DING!*

The elevator door opens and we entered into Noire's personal floor. And the first thing we heard on the floor was this.

"Ugh, this is such a mess! If I knew this would happen, I wouldn't have digitized all the paperwork!"…is a voice of woman who is almost panicking and trying to stay calm.

Stepping out into the elevator, we're in a purplish colored room hallway that extends to the left and right wing of the floor that I may explore and describe if given the opportunity. The voice came from two futuristic doors that will… well, you get the point. All four of us enter.

"Not like whining will solve anything. I need to focus on repairing anything I can"

"Lady Black Heart! The people whose personal information got stolen are protesting against you!" a holographic window popped up and soldier's face came with it.

"These people are demanding some kind of monetary compensation for this…" the soldier shouted.

"Handle it on your own! I only have two arms!" Noire closed the window in the simple key stroke movements and returned to typing on her computer frantically.

"Ugh, who's responsible for this? Who would do something so horrible?" now she's panicking while typing.

"A horrible person of course, who would you think would do this? A good guy?" I raise my voice at this good time.

"Oh come on! Deal with i-! Kyaaaa! W-Why are you guys here!?" after she just turned her head to us, she almost screamed in surprise as her brain recognizes us.

"We're going to help you, of course. What? Don't like the company?"


	43. Chapter 43

Chapter 43:

"Hey, Noire! How're ya doin'?" Neptune runs first to Noire, who is sitting in front of huge amounts holographic projections, we followed after.

Her room looks more like a suite. It has a purplish color scheme all over, even the tiles are lilac as well. On the left side is a two-corner sofa, which envelopes a white table with a glowing crystal ball. What is she doing with that?

The left wall has an array of vertical windows, and bars. On the corner is a bed, nothing too suspicious. On the corner wall, it has a digitalized screen of random pictures of Lastation, and behind the head rest of the bed is a bookshelf which houses, of course, books.1

The right side of the room has a flat screen television opposite of the sofa. The right corner, has a corner work table with some boards mounted on the wall and a monitor of sorts mounted on the high corners.

"How am I doing!? Can't you tell by looking at me!?" that you're annoyed and almost panicking? We can tell.

"Yikes! Why are you yelling at me…?" it seems Noire's shout was directed over to Plutie, her friend to be, rather than Neptune.

"Oh! N-No, I wasn't yelling at _you_, Plutia…"

"Desperate women are pitiful" I facepalmed and mumbled.

"I was already upset and annoyed, then I lost it when Neptune came in here with that stupid voice"

"My voice is 80 percent angelic!" Neptune said.

"Her voice is so angelic and lovable that it makes you cringe and click you're tongue in annoyance… sometimes" well, not really, but I just want to put it out there.

"Nepu, is that an insult or praise!?"

"Probably the latter"

"W-Well, maybe this just shows that people don't feel like they need to be formal with you…" this little sister is covering for her big sister.

"This is no time for chit-chat. I can't talk right now, period. I have no time to play with you!" Noire returned to her work with speed and engrossed herself in her computer.

"You're being so distant. We'll help if you're in trouble, so just say the magic word!" Neptune lends out an olive branch.

"We'll do aaaaaanything…" Plutie, that would be very difficult to do.

"I appreciate it, but I can't show you my nation's secrets or my citizens' personal information" oooh, a nation's secret. I'll put that down on my bucket list, thank you very much.

"Not like I think you'd be the least bit helpful in a situation like this, anyway"

"How rude, dude! If we put our minds to it, we can do anything!" good one, Neptune.

"Hmmm… Speaking of that, is the server connected to the internet?" I ask Noire.

"No. Those hackers would hack it again if I do…"

"What's the damage? Just info leaking and defense breach?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Hmm... we can't do anything with the info leak… so…" I think up of a programming language to use. Or maybe I could make a my own compiler? That would hard to crack, since it would use my own PL. But I also have to use another set of database language to use. And also that is hard to crack.

"Is it fine, if we rewrite the entire system? I swear I'll make it end user friendly as possible. And I won't peak at the database" I raise my hand as I solemnly swear.

"Um… sure?" she cocks her head in confusion.

"*Sigh*… Let me take a seat and give me… 30 minutes? I guess…"

"Oh, we get so see Jared super hacker stuff!" an excited Neptune.

"Supa hacka?! Amaazing!" Plutie is amazed as well.

Taking a seat at Noire's chair, I put my hands on the keyboard and open up the command line interface. After massaging my fingers, I type in some code that pops into my head. After pressing three returns, a blank black screen appeared.

"Time to get started…" I begin creating my own compiler.

"Neppy, Neppy!"

"Yeah?"

"…I don't understand what he's typing!"

"Me either!"

*CLAP!*

Did they just high-fived in total agreement of not understanding a proprietary language? I kinda feel hurt.

"Are you sure that you're her fiancée?" Noire asked me.

"I am" I replied as I still type.

"Um, Noire?" the little sister called out.

"What is it?"

"I was wondering why you have a hidden camera over there" from the corner of my field of view, Nepgear points above the physical monitor. Now that she mentions it there is one. Guess the color scheme tricked my eyes.

"Camera? I don't have anything set up in here like that"

"You have one. Look closely, it's so small you could even mistake it from a spy movie…" I said.

"And I think your face is in the middle center of the lens right now" Nepgear added.

"Hmm…? Wow, you're right. Something _is_ there… Wait! I never signed off on this!" and what did you sign for?

"Noire, just be honest and admit that you like to record yourself working and watch it at night" Neptune advised.

"I bet you're all like, 'Man, I'm so freaking cool!' and get all pumped. Kinda gross, Noire"

"You're like a stalker, except you stalk yourself…!" Plutie, you really shouldn't have said

So she's having a case of Narcissism, it's not too late to help her if it's just on the early stages. And from what I can tell she hasn't committed any of the deadly sins of Narcissism.

"I just said I have no idea what that is! I didn't even know there was a camera there!" Noire denied.

"Who's responsible!? Who planned all this?"

*SWOOSH!*

"…" without me being distracted of my work, I felt a small gush of wind as a book flies towards the hidden camera with precision of porcupine hitting its spikes on your skin.

*YOINK!*

Okay, the sound effect was funny.

"Let me see this…" Nepgear picks up the broken pieces of the camera and showed it to us.

"There isn't a microphone, but it seems like it transfers the video wirelessly" she observed.

"Basically, if you didn't set it up yourself, it means someone else is secretly taping you" isn't that an obvious conclusion from getgo?

"Secretly taping me!? Ugh, don't say that! It's creeping me out!" as do all victims of stalkers.

"Yeah, makes sense your fans are _those _kinds of people. The greasy, basement-dwelling types…" as generalized by Neptune.

"Apologize this instant! Not to me, but my followes! With your body and soul!" I heard the sound of sword pointing at something.

"Sorry. I went too far. I will reflect on my actions and never repeat them, et cetera"

"Neppy Jr., do you know who put this thingy in here?"

"I have no idea… But if there's no microphone attached, there must be one somewhere nearby…"

"So… Ta-da! My incognito microphone find-a-ma-bob!" I turn at Nepgear as she pulls out from out of nowhere a... what the hell is holding? It looks like a freakin' gun with a satellite receiver disk at the barrel point and a screen at the hammer.

"Find… a… ma-bob?" a series of question marks floats above Plutie's head.

"Lookit! I made it all by myself! Each part was carefully chosen after hours of deliberation…" and why are you're eyes sparkling like that of a proud person achieving enlightenment?

"Sorry, we don't care about that. Why are you just carrying kind of thing around?" Noire asked.

"Huh? All girls walk around with one these days" Nepgear answered in an obvious tone.

"All girls…? Then I need to buy one, too…!" um, no, Plutie. No girl would carry something like that and expect anyone to say 'that it's not a gun it's a freakin' radar that looks like a gun'.

"No, that's a lie. I've never met a girl as 'special' as my dear sister in my life" Neptune said.

"How 'special' are we talking about?" I ask her.

"Well, my li'l sis loves, I mean _loves, _electronics and inventions"

"How convenient of a hobby"

"I think it's not a hobby anymore" so it's an obsession, probably.

"Oh, I'm getting a response. Here… and here, and… Wow, 3 in total" so the guy is masking he's traces, pretty easy to filter out.

"I can even triangulate the signal so we can find out where the signal is sending the data to" Nepgear explains afterward.

"R-really? How handy" is Noire praising her or conflicted about something.

"Hehehe. I'm so glad I could be of some use to you"

"Hm? A popup?" as I was about to finish the final stretches of the program a popup appeared from out of nowhere.

_NEPGEAR GAINED THE "ELECTRONIC OTAKU" AFFINITY!_

"Oh, goodie. This is the first affinity I'm actually pleased to get" she sounds happy.

"Okay, let's trace the data. They must've heard our conversation, so we need to act fast" and determined as well.

"I figured she was a bit off. Must be in your genes" Noire commented.

"Naw, it's just one of her quirks. She doesn't show it often, and it's rarely useful, but…"

"Woooooow! So does this mean you can make big robots, Neppy Jr.?" Plutie is amazed.

"Whoa, don't give her any ideas. If you ask that, she really will try to build one" Neptune warns.

"Well if we're going, I'm about done here anyway. Nepgear, please connect your invention to this computer"

"Okay" Neptune takes out a cord and connects to a proper slot.

Upon the unit detecting the device, I open another command line interface and type in another set of codes to get the IP of the locations she got. Wow, this guy really is masking his IP. The results I got are all cryptographic hashed, more specifically MD5 hash.

"Shit…" to crack such a code, it takes a serious math solving skills to get the actual message. I overclock my brain, and tried computing it mentally.

"…!" oh gawd… so many numbers inside my head.

"…haa… wow… that was fuckin' hard" so this is what those mining rigs go through just to crack a hash code for cyptocurrency.

"Is it just me or was there some kind of internal conflict that happened for a second?" Neptune asked.

"There was but you will never find out…" I ping the IP addresses on the console.

"Hrm… Good, two are fake and one is legit. Nice work there…"

"Whoa, you were able to figure which one is the real one?" Nepgear is appalled by my work.

"Because 2 of these are from a website, look I got a response from the servers, but one of them doesn't want to be pinged"

"Oh I see"

"If we know where he is then let's go already so I can give him a piece of my mind!" Noire commanded.

"Ooh, Noire looks really determined to find know his fan" Neptune side commented.

"I'm sure he means no harm… probably…"


	44. Chapter 44

Chapter 44:

"…My head hurts…" I massage my temples. Damn you Ronald Linn Rivest!

"… Jared, is it _those_ again?" Neptune's grip on my hand tightened.

"No, not those. I kinda used my head a little too much" I assure her by petting her head.

"So, you mean that you're the type of dork that knows a lot when he's serious huh? Man, I feel really relieved that our heads isn't that all gapped!"

*CHOP!*

"Owwwiee…" what the hell are you saying woman?

Having arrived at some factory, the following lines above had just happened. The factory looks like it was just abandoned a few years ago, since the foliage isn't all that thick and the building itself is not all that deteriorated.

*BEEP!* *BEEP!* *BEEP!* *BEEP!*

"The response is getting stronger. I think we're close to the terminal receiving the video feed" Nepgear announces as her… um, radar emits a series of sounds.

"So they're hiding in a factory they tried to destroy before? They found our only blind spot…" at least they're using their head Noire.

"Sounds like you've already decided that this criminal is one of the Seven Sages" Neptune voiced out.

"Of course it is! Who else could it be!?"

"A horrible person, perhaps…" I answered.

"Well, like, some kind of crazy Noire-lovin' maniac…"

"Cut it out! I thought you were going to reflect on what you said earlier!"

"Before we get on our knees and reflect, let's get to Noire's crazy lovin' maniac before he gets to us first" the first move is always the most important one.

Walking towards the factory, with Nepgear in the lead, I push open the doors to the warehouse section of the factory. Letting the girls in, I observe as I close.

The place is filled with mountains and mountains of junk. Scraps of metal on one mountain, another mountain dedicated to papers, another mountain dedicated to more junk. The place isn't all that bright either. I look for the switch by hugging the wall.

"It's like a haunted house!" Plutie said.

"Yeah, it looks really, really creepy…" Noire agreed.

"Pfft! No ghost will be able to scare me!"

"Neppy is so brave!"

"Goodness, I can't find the lights" Nepgear feels the wall for anything.

"Me neither Nepgear. Have you checked the corner?" although our eyes have gotten used to the darkness right about now, we can't actually walk through this place without proper light.

"Goodness, there are so many webs here!"

"Careful for any big ones…" where is that switch?

"Guah! I really can't see anything"

"Is it just me or did the place got darker?" Noire said.

"So this is a haunted house! Neppy, let's go exploring"

"Um… Ah… let's wait for Jared…"

I search and search by feeling the walls, I've also encountered my fair share of spider webs here. I try to hold back sneezing from all this dusts. Eventually I reach the far side corner. I feel a few more times before I get back.

"I found it!" thank you, Nepgear! With a light run, I head back towards the 3 girls that I left.

"I'm turning it on!" hearing the sound of the switch, the lights came back to life.

"It's so dusty here…" Plutie said.

"Whoo… Thank goodness that the lights are back!" Neptune is relived.

"Why do you sound relieved?" Noire notices.

"Well, I really don't like it if some other dude from your fan club decided to kidnap me and do all sorts of things!"

"If that happened, I'll murder the bastard" I'll do him like I did with Yvoire and countless others. That'd be nice.

"Don't worry, Jared. I won't get kidnapped! I'll beat him real good and you can do the rest!"

"You're really trying to turn me into a demon lord character, huh…" this woman really does give you some headaches. In a good way, mind you.

"I'm back…!" we all turn to Nep...geaaaaaaaaaaaar!

"NEPU! IT'S A GHOST! IT'S A GHOST!" Neptune screamed her lungs out as she hides behind me and uses me as a shield against the abomination.

She really isn't an abomination though. Nepgear is just covered from head to toe a bunch of spider webs. She looks so ghostly, that I would be really surprised if she passes through physical objects.

"Nepgear… Look at yourself for a moment…" I said to her.

"Eh…? Goodness, why am I covered in spider webs!" you only noticed that now?

"Nep Jr.? Oh, it's just Nep. Jr! I thought it was ghost or something…"

"Neppy, Neppy…" Plutie tugs on Neptune's sleeve.

"You're afraid of ghosts, aren't you?"

"Nepu? Me, the main character afraid of ghosts, meeh... that's impossible"

"Oh really? I think I remember about our first date that you were-MmmFgh!" she just covered my mouth.

"Pfft! You're afraid of ghosts, what are you 12?" Noire laughed through her nose.

"Grrr! At least I'm not afraid of being alone"

"I told you already that I'm not that lonely!"

"Sis… doesn't like ghost huh… I better take note of that" what are you whispering over there sister-in-law to-be.

"Ha—ACHOOO!"

"Look, you're sneezing over there, Nepgear. Come here so we can help you brush the webs off"

"*sniff!*…O-Okay…" she walks over to us.

* * *

*BEEP!* *BEEP!* *BEEP!* *BEEP!*

"I'm picking up a big reaction. We must be getting close" Nepgear announced.

After getting all the webs from Nepgear, we continued exploring until we were stopped by yours truly. We're under an old light shining from above, like a spotlight for a show. Looking around, there isn't anything all that much to hide a server or a terminal. Ahead is no more than another set of walking, and behind is…

"Mmm, correctamundo, sweetie. Maybe this problem was too easy for such a smartypants" …a mysterious voice of a woman is heard.

"Show yourself!" Noire demanded as we all turn towards the source.

"Aww, but Noire didn't solve it. It must be hard for someone dumb to act smart around her friends" he added.

"Oh, so Noire is dumb…" Plutie said in a 'oh so that's what it was!' tone.

"How sad for Noire, forcing herself just to look smart" it isn't bad to be dumb.

"I had an inkling that was the case. She probably works so hard because it makes her look smarter" Neptune added.

"You're the very, very, very last person I would want to hear that from! Come on, show yourself!" she changed the subject at the very last minute.

"Don't such a pushy pussy cat. I'll come out without being forced to do so, okay?" and stepping into the light is a… robot?

The robot is cranberry jello pink in color with several other parts on his shoulders, arms, legs, back, and feet that are green in color and glowing. He also has a hint of yellow-orange on his suit in the mid-torso and arm regions.

"I assume you're the idiot who's doing whatever you want with my nation, huh?"

"Wow, a robot…! No, wait… It's more like the kind of thing you wear as a power suit…!" beware, the electronic otaku is seeing heaven.

"Uh, Nep Jr., why're your eyes all glowing stuff _now?_" the big sister asked in concern.

"Ooh, it's Noire…! The real deal, in the flesh…!" the robot with a madam-voice says in ecstasy.

"Its eyes are totally the same!"

"Wh-What's wrong with this thing? It's grossing me out..."

"Pardon me. I got a little too worked up!" the robot inhales and exhales in an attempt to calm himself (?) down.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am the Seven Sages' wizard, working behind the curtain..." he...uh... I'll call it robot. Put a hand on it's heart.

"The super hacker! Anonydeath!" wow... I'm really starting to question the parents who thinks up these crazy names.

"Noire, I would really like it if you would referred to me with a cute little pet name, like Anny" isn't that 'cute little pet name' something common now? You have shallow desires robot.

"No way! There's no way in hell I'll call you that!" ...and this is the reason why Noire doesn't have any friends.

"Hey, even though he has a really manly design, why does he sound so frilly and poofy?"

"Stop, Plutie. There are things in the world that should be left unanswered"

"Just as he said sweetie. Don't worry about the boring details. Gender is a non-issue for robots, you see" so you're... what? A hermaphrodite?

"Besides, my heart is more pure than the hearts of every maiden in the whole world!" the robot spreads its hands high as if showing us something grandeur.

"He's a cool-looking robot, but underneath it all, he seems slightly disturbed..."

"And just like that, my sister no longer cares about a really cool robot design"

"At least she didn't go head over heels for a robot with questionable features" that would absolutely be terrible.

"He's gonna drive me insane. What do you want? What will you gain by doing this to my land?" and why would the robot drive you insane? Because he's a fan?

"It's all for love..."

"Huh..."

"Wow..." I'm flabbergasted.

"Uh-oh, he confessed to you..." Plutie is excited.

"Those raven-black hair, those sexy and taut twintails... Your adult face that glows with innocence..." wow...

"Your contrary attitude and hints of otakudom... Mmmm! You are a home run to the stadium of my heart!" Bwaahahaha! Whoo... Double wow!

"What the hell are you going on about!? How does any of that relate to hacking!?" flustered level now on level 2.

"Well, shy nerds tend to tease to the girl they like, no? It' the exact same thing!"

"What a world! Noire has a friend and even a secret lover here!" Neptune said in complete astonishment.

"It seems Noire here is more famous than we thought, in terms of relationships that is"

"Don't say that he is my secret lover! Why would you like me if your heart is like a pure maiden?"

"When it comes to love, I am pure. And if it's pure, then there's nothing wrong if it's 2 girls!" Anonydeath answered without shame.

"Hooraay for same gender marriage..."

"Yes, there is! There is something majorly wrong! And don't patronize him!" Noire directed her anger to me. I raise my hands in defense.

"Mmmm... I would watch you work every day through my secret camera and never grow bored..." isn't it getting obvious that you're the one that planted that bug inside her room?

"So cute, sitting at your desk and holding back tears while trying to do your best..."

"I kind of figured Noire's fans would be like this..." Nepgear said.

"These weirdos are known as the fungus amongus. And this is proof that they thrive in Noire's presence" Neptune, please don't categorize Noire's fans as an organic dried mushroom. Unless they are part of the band Incubus.

"That's not true! This guy's just especially insane"

"Oh, and the times you would take a break to pose in front of the mirror, or sew cosplay outfits..."

"I see... So Noire does cosplay..." it seems I have a lot to learn.

"The faint smile on your face as you check your hardrive. Mmmm!" now that sounds weird.

"HAAAWAAAHWHAAAHAA!" Noire screamed.

"...Noire do you really do all that when you're alone?" Nepgear questioned.

"Your image is questionable now, Noire"

"Don't talk to her right now. You'll get bad grades or whatever. Nepgear, Jared, try to make new friends" Neptune advises both of us.

"I... I don't do those things! He's making it all up! There's no way I would... would..." and there's no way we would believe you if you're panicking like that.

"Oh, my aching heart! If you insist on being so stubborn, I'll broadcast the videos worldwide!" now that's an interesting thought, Anonydeath.

"What!? S-stop it! Please don't do that!" Noire begs with almost tears in the corner of her eyes.

"I'm kidding. I would never waste my precious data of you by giving it to the world!"

"Ugh... This guy takes the cake. He's the worst villain we've faced by a wide margin" for you that is. We're learning a lot from him.

"Mmm, what a lovely expression! Nothing beats the real thing. Webcams pale in comparison!" of course they are.

"Awww, hey... You're not allowed to tease Noire..." Plutie comes to the rescue!

"Plutia..."

"Oh, what's that? But it would be such a waste not to tease a girl who's begging for it" Anonydeath replied.

"No, I understand that..." Bwahaahahaahahaha!

"You agree with him!?" HAHAHAHAHA! She is, woman!

"Just like that, Plutie's switch has been flipped on. If this keeps up, then..." Neptune said as she pulls me to step back.

"There's only one person who's allowed to tease Noire..." Plutie glows...

" '...And that is me!' " and madam goddess came.

"Oh man, just as I thought...!"

"Uh-oh... She's appeared... This Plutia is traumatizing..." what did she do you, Nepgear?

"H-Hey! Don't just transform just because you feel like it!" Noire said.

"Ooh, scary. I figured since we're both the same type of person, we could become skank sisters..." Anonydeath invites.

"What a shame. Unfortunately, I have a case of megalomania. Noire, Neptune, Nepgear, and that boy..."

"All of them are pets!" and when did I signed up for that?

"Well, she's gonna do what she's gonna do. Nepgear, we should transform and protect ourselves!" Neptune quickly told her sister.

"O-okay..." the sister glows...

" 'I can resist her a little bit in this form, anyway...' "

" 'Aww... I don't change much...' "

"It's good for you that you get to change and all, but I'm completely exposed to her dominatrix..."

" 'You're a passerby, right? You can handle her...' " Neptune said with a smile.

"Goodie, everyone transformed! I like that you show more skin, but the cuteness factor decreased" Neptune still looks cute whichever though. And Nepgear doesn't change all that much.

"Noire, could you pretty please with sugar and diamonds and hot fudge stay on top like that?" Anonydeath begs.

"No. As if I'd do you any favors" Noire is a stubborn girl. She glows...

" 'You've invaded my privacy, so I need to pay you back with spades!' "

"Aww, I don't like this one. I like the normal Noire. Besides, this one's got white hair..." the robot complains.

"A shallow love..."

" 'How sad. Your lust for Noire only extends that far...' " and don't call it lust, madam goddess.

" 'I need to think up a meaningful punishment to give to the fool who teased my darling pet...' "

"I can't wait! While I love to dish it out, sometimes I'm fine with taking it, too!"

" 'Don't hold back, Plutia! Grind this perv to dust!' " Noire commanded.

" 'Mmm, Noire gave me permission to play. I don't plan to hold back anyway, so that's fine' "

" 'If those two take things too far, we're going to have to stop them. Understand?' " Neptune told me and Nepgear.

" 'Aww... I don't think I can...' "

"Roger that" a katana appeared before me, I catch it before it falls.

"I'm not okay with just sitting back and getting whipped, however" Anonydeath said as 9 blades, of the same color scheme, surround it in vertically.

"Neptune..."

" 'Yeah?' "

"I have a plan..."

" 'You always think of one' "

" 'Get ready perv!' "

*BANG!*


	45. Chapter 45

Chapter 45:

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

9 blades shoot through from nowhere and fly towards me. I stop from running and defend myself against such attacks.

" 'Cover me, Nepgear!' "

" 'You got it, Sis!' "

*BANG!*

Neptune flies towards Anonydeath, as Nepgear takes aim with her gun-sword. The swords that were trying to pierce me had stopped attacking and is has reappeared around the robot. Neptune swings her sword…

*CLASH!*

"Hmhmm… A good attack..."

" 'Tch!' "

One of the 9 blades defends Anonydeath without any movement from the robot. It's as if it has a mind on its own.

" 'Yaaaaaaaah!' "

From above Noire flies down and swings her sword from above.

*CLASH!*

"Oh Noire, you have to do better than that to make me like you in that form…"

Another blade intercepts. Noire's attack been blocked. She pushes her sword down, but it wouldn't budge.

" 'You're wide open!' "

*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*

*BANG!*

Nepgear fires off 4 bullets straight towards the robot from 1 o'clock. After she fires the fourth bullet she immidiately swoops down and charges in, racing with the fourth bullet. A good tactic…

*CLASH!* *CLANG!*

" 'What?!' "

"Oh sweetie, that was pretty good…" Nepgear's attacks were blocked. That was defending against a bullet and fast moving sword.

" 'Then would this hurt you!' "

Madam goddess, appeared from behind and swings her whip sword.

*CLASH!*

A blade appeared blocking the attack. Because of physics, the whip-sword wraps itself around the blade.

" '…!' " she tries to pull the blade, but it seems that it won't budge in the slightest.

"Is this all you can do?"

"Nice set up…" I whisper as I move in from Anonydeath's 7 o'clock.

With the warehouse's limited sources of light, one can use the way too many shadow pockets all over the place. Without him (?) knowing, the formation the girls have now have created a blind spot. I move in from that and thrust my sword.

*CLASH!*

"Damn…" another blade just appeared. Where are these blades coming from anyway?

"You know, I've got to admit…" Anonydeath's hand is raised.

"…you look cute…" …all the blades instantly and simultaneously disappeared. Making us all stumble.

"…but you're not my type"

*CLASH!*

"Gh!" suddenly, like an explosion, all nine blades appeared around him and thrusts towards us as if he was a porcupine. We were all pushed back from the sudden ambush of blades. I give everyone quick looks and it seems there all fine.

"Crad, that didn't work…" and that was pretty good too.

"I told you I can dish it out…" Anonydeath teases us.

"Oh really? Can you dish out this?" feeling with my foot some metal box thing, probably a server of some kind, I kick it towards Anonydeath.

*CLASH!*

A blade appeared cutting the server in half.

"Were you testing something out?"

"I was just playing with you"

I lunge towards the robot to start the second wave of attacks. Anonydeath just waits for me. Three blades appear and thrust at three various vital points at my body, liver heart and head. I maneuver my way through those three and swung my sword.

*CLASH!*

As expected, another blade shoots out from nowhere and blocks the attack. I quickly lower my stance and swing my back leg for a back kick.

*CLANG!*

*BANG!*

Another blade appeared, blocking my attack. Using it as a platform, I kick myself away and let Noire attack him (?) from below.

*CLASH!*

" 'Tch…!' "

"Oh Noire! If you really want to come to me you have to go back to normal or else I won't accept you!"

" 'Shut up!' " and why are flustered?

Noire dodges to the side as Neptune came up to make her strike as well.

*CLASH!*

*SCHNNNNNNNNNNNNG!*

Of course that gets blocked as well. She grinds the sword to the blade, allowing her a slight retreat. With the tip of her sword to the ground, she swings for a powerful strike.

*CLASH!*

2 blades shoots out from out of nowhere, blocking that said attack. Noire and Neptune moves out of the way, when a whip-sword came, shooting from out of nowhere.

" 'C'mon, c'mon, c'mon! Get hit so I can hear you squeal!' " what a demand.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

Madam goddess continues to whip Anonydeath. His(?) blades continue to magically protect him. He(?) just stands there, as if waiting for Noire to change back and try to court her to marriage.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

She continues to whip her whip-sword. And each time a sadistic smile is slowly crawling from ear to ear.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

*BANG!*

In between the waves of whips, Nepgear moves in from behind and readies her sword.

*CLASH!*

" 'Even from this!?' " don't worry Nepgear, I'm surprised as well.

"Geez, being popular can be so endearing…" he calmly says as all the blades retracts and disappears simultaneously.

"But sadly, all I really want is to be with my Noirey!"

*SCHWING!*

Nepgear flies back as 3 blades shoots in front of Anonydeath towards her. I get out from my hiding spotand quickly throw the sword with something that's attached towards him.

*CLANG!*

"That was a good attempt…" Anonydeath is amused…

"I think it's time for me to…Guh!?" light shines suddenly from above, like the second coming.

If you haven't already imagined it, all those attacks were merely nothing more than just distractions. The girls, and I mean is Neptune and Nepgear, slowly chip away the roof while I make something from the heaps of junk that's in here. Hell, like for example…

"How about a can of soda…" the attached soda can on the sword cross the safe zone.

That soda can isn't an ordinary can either. All the contents inside, which are carbonated soda, became a squishy solid. I also found a bottle full of potassium nitrate. By thoroughly mixing them together one can make something like…

"Nepgear! Shoot!"

" 'Multiple beam launcher, firing!' "

*BANG!*

*SKZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!*

"*Cough!* *Cough!* Sm…oke! *Cough!*" yup, it's smoke. It can last for minutes on end with this DIY.

" 'Hahahaha! I got you now!' " Madam goddess, beaming with ecstasy whips her weapon at the person inside the sweet smelled smoke.

*CRACK!* *CRACK!* *CRACK!*

The whip whacks at the target, whacking at the robot (?) like some pig. Without much of fight, the smoke cleared revealing Anonydeath on all floors waving a small white flag, which I don't know where he pulled out.

"Ouch, okay, uncle! Uncle!"

" 'Oh, finished already? Pathetic' "

"I told you that I'm more of a behind-the-scenes type. I'm not made for all this sexy action" then what were you made for?

"But when I think about the future, maybe I'm overdue for a tune-up"

"But if I do that, this cute and girly figure will be lost! What a dilly of a pickle!" just pick one already.

" 'Your nonsensical rants aside, you should be more concerned about getting tossed in the trash!' " Noire's anger run deep.

"Really? I suppose the beautiful _do_ die young, and dying by your hand wouldn't be so bad..." not really though.

" 'Oh, I won't do a thing. Plutia, he or she or whatever it is… is all yours' " Noire's anger runs deeper.

" 'Hmm. Torturing those who don't fight back isn't fun, but since my lovely Noire asked, I will obey' "

"Ahh, how horrible for me! My final request won't be granted!"

" 'No matter how I look at it, I feel like we're being the bullies here' " Nepgear said her concern.

"Touché"

" 'Stay quiet. At times like this, the best way to remain safe and sound is not to get involved' " Neptune said.

" 'Knowing all this, are you ready?' " Madam goddess readies her whip-sword.

"It won't matter how I answer" Anonydeath stands up and faces the sadist…

"If I die, Noire's secret videos will go viral automatically, but that's no big deal…"

" 'True. That's a very insignificant, yet wonderful, problem. All right, then…' " she raises her hand.

" 'W-Wait just a second!' " Noire stops the sadist.

" 'What's this? First you say 'do it,' then you say 'no'…"

" 'Hey idiot, you just said something really insane, didn't you? Didn't you!?' " it's kinda noticeable by now, but she really does have a secret that's hiding from us.

"It wasn't insane. See, I wrote this little program that executes under such a condition" he pulled out a briefcase laptop and showed us the screen. Two applications are running which shares the screen. One is running an ECG monitor, and the other are just lines and lines of code, more specifically it's written in Python.

" 'Why would you do that!?' "

"Because if I am to die, I would very much like to die staring at the girl I love so very, very much" an interesting scenario.

"When I reach Celestia, I thought that would be a lovely time to let everyone see what I saw in you" oh yeah, Celestia in this dimension means heaven; forgot about that.

" 'Wh… Wha… What…' "

"She seems to be in a pickle here…" I look at the code closely. It really does connect to Anonydeath's heartrate.

" 'Nepgear, Jared, can you do something about this program?' " Neptune asked.

" 'I'm not a big software girl. I'm all about hardware…' " Nepgear don't answer something suggestive like that!

" 'Hmm? Is someone tossing around 'soft' and 'hard' with a hint of sexual undertones!? Speak up! ' " see? You're attracting the Madam's attention.

" 'Noooo! P-Plutia, it really wasn't anything for you to get excited about, honest!' "

" 'Jared?' " Neptune turns to me.

"Sorry for disappointing though, but at the end of the code, he or she or something else wrote a piece of line that would make everything read-only. Nothing to go from there" there is a way though, but cracking it will take me an hour max. And Madam goddess' thirst would have overwhelmed us all, by then.

" 'Ugggghhhhh… Just go' " Noire speaks filled with regret.

"Hmm? What did you just say?" he's (?) not the only one that's surprised.

" 'I said you can go, so go!' "

"Is that so? You're such a kind and forgiving girl, Noire. I've fallen for you even harder"

" 'Aw, how boring, I thought that exposing Noire's secrets to the world would be so exhilarating…' " you really have some serious problems, madam.

" 'Even if you're joking, don't even say that kind of thing!' "

"I think I'll accept your offer" Anonydeath closes the laptop, and floats towards the hole we made on the ceiling.

"Oh yes, one last thing…" he turns to look at Noire one more time.

" 'What? There's more!?' "

"I was bluffing about the program thing. Don't worry"

" '…Huh?' "

"I already told you that those videos are for my eyes only! Okay, bye-bye ladies and gent!" and he flies of towards the blue sky.

" 'W-Wait, dammit! Ugh! You die the next time we meet!' " Noire curses as the curtains close on this fight.


	46. Chapter 46

Chapter 46:

"Man! This sucks! What was up with that… that _thing!?_"

"He had you by the pigtails and was making you squeal! You're not that smooth against smart people, huh?" Neptune said her observation.

Feeling the fresh air outside, finally, I stretch my arms and back until they give a slight pain. A painful stretch, but not too much, is good for a cool down after all. Noire still complains about her secrets almost leaking out. Plus the fact that's she's trying to act smart.

"I said not to say stuff that'll give the impression that I'm dumb! Especially you!"

"He ran, but I'm certain we'll fight him again before too long" Nepgear said. And please don't say something like that. I hate the hassle.

"Umm, when that enemy is around, Noire gets all red squirmy and cute, so I don't mind him"

"Plutia, is your normal personality getting corrupted by your HDD one?"

"Maybe that's who she really is…" I shiver at the thought.

"At the very least, it seems like our business in Lastation is a wrap!" Neptune announced.

"We're going to jam on back to Lowee next! What are you going to do, Noire?" she asked as well.

"This is nowhere near wrapped. The hacked data is a mess and I need to calm my people down"

"Ugh, when I think about it, I get so depressed…" Noire heave a heavy sigh.

"How awful. Can we help somehow?" Nepgear raised an olive leaf.

"No thanks. Like I said earlier, some delicate information was compromised. With Jared's help on the whole system and helping me get rid of the culprit, it was more than enough" at least she's honest sometimes.

"Don't be clueless camgirl and let him plant more those thingies in your room!" Neptune said.

"And also, watch out some emails from him (?). He'll probably email you his (?) scoop of you"

"D-don't butt in" Noire transforms once more and floats in the air a few feet

" 'Well then, I'll be going' " and she flies off.

"Okey-dokey, do your best!" Plutie waves as she disappears into the horizon.

"Let's get some walking… it's a few kilometers before we get to Lowee"

"Eeeh. But it's so far, far away" Neptune complains.

"You can't exactly just fly there, right? We just had a battle"

"Then carry me" this woman can be such a sigh sometimes, in a good way.

"Okay, okay… Here" I crouch and offer my back. Feeling the weight of my woman, I catch her legs and hoist myself up.

"How nice. I want to be carried too, Neppy Jr. carry me too" Plutie also wants to be carried.

"M-me!?"

"C'mon! c'mon!"

"O-okay…"

Nepgear crouches down and offers her back. Plutie put all her weight on her back and wrapping her arms around the little sister in-law to-be's neck. Nepgear catches her legs and lifts herself up.

"Zzzz… Zzz…"

"Goodness, don't just fall asleep"

"Zzz…Zzz… but I'm sweapy….Zzz…"

"Sure you can handle her? I don't mind a switch" I offered.

"It's fine. I always carry Sis around like this"

"You're terrible, terrible big sister"

"It's a big sister's role to make her little sister big and strong!"

"Right…" I have doubts about that statement.

* * *

Lowee, in this dimension, is a lot more different than the other nations comparing them to their counterpart. Instead of Fantasy or Magical Kingdom theme, Lowee has traditional Japanese styled theme. Instead of a perpetual winter, it is late fall with red leaves and only slight patches of snow. It feels like I'm back in Tokugawa era. It would be terrible to see those Tokugawa guys again.

Autumn leaves fall, painting the road in orange gold. Some people are in a traditional Japanese clothes, giving that whole 'going back in time' feeling a little solidarity. Bridges, its frame is painted in red, with a riverbank glistening in sparkles runs underneath. There are also shops here, written in Kanji of kind of what shop they are, of course theirs an English translation underneath.

"The people of Lowee brings the Japanese spirit. The Japs are gonna be so proud…" I whisper to myself.

"It would be funny if those Japanese popped out and actually did that" Nepgear overheard my words.

"You about the Japs?"

"Mhm, their people commonly having a sword just like my Sis, and they stab it in their gut right?"

"I'm surprised that you know about Sepuku"

"Sepuku?"

"You know Japanese people and yet you don't know Sepuku"

"Ah, I'm refering to a game. Were we talking about 2 different things?" Nepgear ponders.

"So my dimension is nothing but a game here? That's so sad…" at least they would learn what it's like in that world. Well, it's not that match any different here actually.

"Zzz… Zzz…"

"Putting that aside, you sure you're good carrying Plutie on your back?" I ask her.

"Yeah… I'm used to it but…."

"Zzz… Zzz… Pudding~~ Pudding~~ I love pudding~~… Zzz…" Neptune snuggles up to me as she dreams of swimming in her favorite dessert.

"Don't worry about it. I'm used to it"

After crossing the bridge, we're met with the castle gates and walls. Some Lowee guards tried to hold us from going in. But after letting them see Neptune's face, they backed away. Once we enter the castle grounds, the first thing I see is that the castle itself looks more like Himeji castle. It's a shame that I haven't had the time to explore the insides of it back in my dimension. It's mostly because, for some strange reason, my plans for a thorough survey never came to fruit. And yes, I met Ikeda Terumasa, but the asshole wouldn't let me explore his place. Dammit!

I've also noticed that the place is also being repaired. On one side of the Tenshukaku is a huge hole that it kinda looks like a tank just went and plowed its way through the wall, bringing down even the third story.

"Ooh! It's Blanc!"

"Guah! Woman! Stop shouting right at my ear! Gawd that hurts…!" it's like a grenade just exploded right in front of me.

Neptune apparently had woken up without warning me. She leans to my shoulder as she points to what looks like an out of place shrine maiden manning the repairs of the Tenshukaku. She even has a yellow construction helmet for protection as well.

"Fwueeeh… Ooh, it's Blanny!" Plutie also woke up.

"Okay, you two, we'll put you down now"

After putting the girls down, we walk over towards the Lowee goddess.

"Lady Blanc, we've finished repairing the support pillars" one of the laymen said to her.

"…Good. Don't bother with the interior right now. Prioritize reinforcing the buildings"

"Understood!" the layman leaves.

"Blanny, we've come to be super helpful friends…!" Plutie comes to her and waves.

"Wow, it's way more peaceful here than I expected. I was ready for a sea of blood and whatnot" Neptune complained for the lack of massacre.

"You're making Blanc look like she a short fuse or something…" well she is but...

"…You've come. As you can see, the Basilicom has been repaired. The damage was minimal"

"So you've already resolved everything on your own?" Nepgear asked. Isn't that good news for us?

"Wow, you're sooooo amazing…" Plutie is baffled.

"No, I haven't really done anything. Actually, it was…"

* * *

Copypaste: _"BWAHAHAHAHAHA! Ooh, now _this_ building is worth destroying! "_

* * *

"Hold your galloping unicorns, we're doing this again?"

"…It's easy to understand" Blanc adds.

"We're not exactly going to be famous for flashbacks like this…"

"Isn't it we're famous for expli-MMFMGH!" I cover Neptune's mouth.

"Okay, okay… just do continue…"

* * *

Copypaste: _"You could even say it was built solely for me to demolish! Just you wait, building! I'll turn you into dust and rubble in a few moments!"_

Lowee Soldier: _"S-Stop right there! To think this would happen when Lady Blanc is away…"_

Copypaste: _"Hmm? No man should make such a pathetic face!"_

Copypaste: _"If you've got unfulfilled wishes or dreams, bring them to battle against me! Get amped up!"_

* * *

"Hahaha… The robot dude will forever be funny" I whisper under my breath.

* * *

Lowee Soldier: _"Wh-what are you even…? In any case, you mustn't destroy more than this!"_

* * *

'_Saying that doesn't actually make him stop…_'

* * *

Lowee Soldier: "_Man… Just thinking about how pissed Lady Blanc will get from this is scary…_"

Copypaste: "_Foolish foo! The very fact the she gets upset with you is proof she relies on you!_"

* * *

"Touché…"

* * *

Copypaste: _"Never fear someone's rage! Be grateful for it!"_

Lowee Soldier: _"This is hopeless. We're talking to a brick wall"_

* * *

"At least he knows that…"

"HAHA! Isn't that big guy's brain is a brick!" Neptune said.

"Most probably a drill"

* * *

Lowee Soldier: "_Fine. If you want to destroy, go to the quarry outside of the city. Bust up rocks all day long_"

Copypaste: "_What was that!?_"

Lowee Solder: "_Whoa! S-Sorry, I just…_"

Copypaste: "_You said I can destroy as much as I'd like? Unbelievable! Does such a place truly exist!?_"

* * *

"Apparently, it's called a demolition site… or a mining site"

* * *

Lowee: "_Um, well, yeah_"

Copypaste: "_Take me there, please! I've dreamt of such a place… I have no other desire in life!_"

Lowee Soldier: "_Uh, okay. Right this way_"

* * *

"…That's supposedly how it went down" and Bland ended the story. Since the flashback is took a while, we're sitting under a shade of tree.

"Baaahahaha! What a dumb turd! Do storks really deliver people that stupid!?"

"Probably Neptune, probably"

"So ever since that happened, he's been working for you…?" Plutie asked.

"…Yeah. Someone's watching over him just in case, but it sounds like we're mining at an insane pace"

"So he really does have a drill as its brain cells" I feel sorry for him.

"Every tool has its use, so they say" Blanc added.

"But no tool ever asked to be one"

"Then we have no reason to be here. Aw, we came all this way…" Nepgear said.

"Not true. I was planning to go pay that jackass back for ruining my Basilicom"

"Whoa, it's rare to get a party invite from Blanc! I wanna go! Let's go! Can we go now?" Neptune persists.

"I wanna go, too…!" as well as Plutie.

"It's decided, then. I'll drill a new asshole into that asshole's asshole" and how would that work? Two anuses?ss


	47. Chapter 47

Chapter 47:

*BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!*

"Oh my gawd… caves..." I release a heavy sigh.

"…You don't like caves?" Blanc asked.

"I absolutely loathe them, they bring bad luck. Like for example…"

"NEPUUUUU! RUN JARED, RUN!"

"Their gaining on us!"

"Goodness! They caught up with my skirt!"

"…I see why" Blanc calmly agrees.

What's happening you ask? Well, as you can obviously see, we're being chased by mushrooms. I shit you not on this one, a huge horde of _Agaricus bisporus, _with eyes and legs are chasing us. Now I've really seen it all.

I'm currently carrying three girls. 2 on my back, which is Blanc and Plutie, and I'm carrying the other one which is Neptune. Of course, the events that started this chase happened so fast that Nepgear hadn't had the time to reserve a seat on the Jared express.

"Oh no! Oh no! Their climbing to my back! Ack! Don't yank my hair!" Nepgear is almost being swallowed up.

"Nepgear! Reach for my hand!" Neptune stretches.

"Sis! I can't!"

"You can! Just reach for it!"

"It's impossible… Go on Sis! Leave without me!"

"But I'm your big sister! I can't imagine my future without my little Nep Jr!"

"Sis…"

"...What is it with these two?" Blanc asked.

"Dunno. All I know is that they were able to do all that while we're running"

"*Sniff!* *Sniff!* I don't wanna see Neppy. Jr dying!" and Plutie is getting into the drama.

"…These two are sisters alright" Blanc concluded.

"Definitely" I agree with her.

"… And how you got together with the older sister is also something to be sketchy for"

"Maybe I'm in the same wavelength as them"

"…Hehe, now that's funny to imagine…"

I run as fast as my legs could take me. Carrying three women here is not as an easy job as I thought. Although they are light, but keeping my balance is a pain. Nepgear tries to catch up but as you can obviously see, she's not doing well in the running department.

"Dammit!" I really don't want to be swallowed by those hordes of mushrooms. I slow down a bit, trying to match Nepgear's pace.

"Nepgear, grab on!" and be quick about it, I feel that those things are going to jump on me.

"Okay!" feeling another set of hands grabbing firmly on my arm, I stomp the ground and launch myself into a full sprint.

Looking behind for a bit, the mushrooms tail me no matter what speed I have. Hell, I have a feeling that they might even chase after an F1. Ahead, is just the abyss of the cave filled with white crystals lighting our path. And these things are still not getting mined.

"You know, in these situations… it's either we get a lucky break or we're going to fall in some pit"

"Do you really have to say that, Neptune! …_haa… haa…_"

"Well, it's you after all. We always get to situations like these"

"It's the reason why I hate caves!"

Ahead of us, I see a shadow pocket to the side. Since the cave has a limited source of light here, I really can't discern anything from that. Behind me, they're slowly catching up even with me running at my max speed. The shadow pocket get's closer… 50… 30… 20… 10…!

"…!"

"Nepu!"

*THUD!*

*RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!*

"_haa… haa… _that was fuck… gh!"

"Ow, ow!"

"Blanny! You're heavy!"

"Gh! I-I'm not!"

"Nepu~~…"

Apparently, we fell into what seems like a rabbit hole. Well, there are no rabbit holes in caves but you get my point. Being crammed at what seems like the bottom part of the hole; I open my eyes and see a set peering through mine.

"Nepu?"

"Oh, it's Neptune…" I thought it was Nepgear for a moment.

"Isn't this an expected turn of events. You know, every time we get into caves we always get into a situation like this!"

"Caves are the source of all evil after all… and who's sitting on stomach? Plutie?"

"Mhm~~ I can't get ouuut, Blanny's too heavy~~!"

"Guah! Nepgear, get off me!" an angry Blanc is heavily angered.

"I can't! I'm stuck!"

"So we're stuck like this…" I say the obvious.

"It's fine! By my experience, there's always going to be something that will save us!"

"Sounds reassuring… Like what? We'll fall from he-!"

* RUMBLE!* * RUMBLE!* * RUMBLE!*

I feel the ground getting weaker.

"*Sigh*…me and my big mouth…Here, hold on"

*RUMBLE* *RAAAAAACK!*

*BAM!*

"Ouch! Ouch! Is everyone alright?" Nepgear asked.

"I'm okey dokey!" Neptune said.

"Me too~~!" Plutie said.

"…Finally…" Blanc sighs in relief.

"Thank goodness… oh wait, where's Jared?"

"Right under you… so will you please get off me? I can't exactly breathe nice if you would imagine…"

The girls got off me. Standing up, I brush off some dust on my clothes and check for anything that is latched on to me. Wouldn't want some bug hanging on my pants now, would I? After brushing off, I see that the girls are okay. I look around and see that we're still in the cave with white crystals. Except now…

*BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!*

"…It's getting louder…" Blanc calmly said.

If you remember that bam, bam sound from earlier, we've been hearing that for quite a while now. And maybe that's why those mushrooms chased us. They thought that we're the ones doing that. Foolish, foolish mushrooms.

Walking towards the source of the ungodly sound, I stop them from turning a corner and see what in heavens is making all those noise. And sure enough, once we peered over...

"Hyaaaaah! Okay, once more!" I giant robot swings it's fists.

*BAM!* *CRUMBLE!* *CRUMBLE!*

"Whoa. As powerful as ever. Please destroy this cliff over here as well" a worker tells the robot.

"Yeah, leave it to me! Hyaaaah!" the crumble under its strength leaving a heap of small crystals glittering.

"Thanks, man! Okay everyone, go and fine any usable materials!"

"Sweet. Ever since Copypaste got here, work's been a snap" another worker commented.

"Seriously, bro. I was shocked the first time I saw him here, though" another worker said. What? He's been here forever now? Sentence structure mate, sentence structure.

"H-hey, now! Flatter will get you nowhere with me! Hahaha!" did that robot just blushed? I swear that thing just blushed!

"Ahh, the joys of being thanked for destroying things, and for being able to laugh with friends!" laughing with friends for destroying things? That is just plain weird.

"I believe I may have found the place where I truly belong!" what? In a cave?

"Hahaha! You're exagerating"

"But seriously, if you stay, it'd be a huge help to us"

"Really…?" and why are considering staying in a cave, robot?

"You're just saying that because it makes your job easier"

"Ugh, you got me"

"You silly man! Hahaha! Trying to pull a fast one on your good friend, are you!?"

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"…"I facaepalm, although the desire of planting my face on the rocks isn't so bad either.

"…What the hell…?" Blanc is also in an disarray.

"More like… why did things end up this way?"

"Good will, maybe? I don't know either…" I honestly answer my fiancée.

"He's fitting in pretty well. I'd feel bad interrupting him" such conflicting feelings Nepgear.

"His name is Copypaste, right? Maybe he's a good person…!" maybe Plutie, maybe.

"But seriously, you guys, I can't stay here forever" and who in their right minds would stay here forever anyway, robot?

"Huh? Why not, buddy?"

"Is it the Seven Sages? Come on, pal, you don't need to go back to those jerks!"

"Yeah! If you work hard here, Lady Blanc will forgive you!" how little these workers know of Blanc.

"Yes, I know. I know in my burning heart that your words are the truth" do robots have a heart? Metaphysically yes, but I know it's called an engine but not a heart.

"But… However! I have been on their team for many years, so they are my comrades!" oh nice one.

"It isn't as though they are all great people. There were times when we came to blows!" internal conflicts are everywhere. Even in one 's self.

"But for me to simply roll over and worship a CPU… It is an act of treachery I cannot commit!"

"…Good. You know your place" Blanc suddenly spoke. We were so engrossed in this heart breaking drama that we didn't notice Blanc stepping up to Copypaste.

"Whoa! The CPU is here!?" the robot turned to and is, obviously shocked.

"…You'll pay for wrecking my Basilicom with your body" that is so wrong.

"I'd have it no other way, I won't lose to you!"

"W-wait, Lady Blanc!" the worker step up and blocks Copypaste from speeding his way through Blanc.

"Copy is a really cool guy!"

"Sure is! We're having a real blast working with him!"

"Tch, you bastards! Loweeans shouldn't be in bed with the likes of the Seven Sages!" why are speaking suggestiveness, woman?

"Hold up, there. Are you really the right person to say that?" Neptune steps up and points a finger at Blanc.

"L-Leave me out of this! Don't bring up pointless crap"

"I appreciate it, friends, but please stand down. It would be sad to get injured on my behalf" Copypaste said to his friends.

"No need to act so formal, pal!"

"Do you really gotta fight, bud?"

"Yeah. It's the only thing I can't back down from. Can I ask one last favor of you guys?"

"Hey! Don't speak like this is the end, friend!"

"Just listen! I still see the Seven Sages as my comrades"

"Yeah…"

"But if they are my comrades, that makes all of you…" oh gawd, I think I know what he's going to say.

"My dearest friends" see? Called it.

"C-Copy…!"

"I… I feel the same way about you, man…"

"Ugh! You're making this too difficult. Hurry up and fight!"

"And where did that determination go? Afraid of breaking up the friendship?" I ask as I come out of hiding. Plutie and Nepgear also did the same.

"Sh-Shut up! I'll do this then!" Blanc transforms.

" 'The rest of you bitches better transform, too!' " and commanded the rest to do the same.

"Yeah, yeah. Here we go" Neptune transforms and rest did as well.

" 'This feels problematic. When did we become the villains' " Neptune asked.

" 'It's fine to be bad girls, isn't it? I mean, I'm not really the ally of justice type, anyway' " the madam said her opinion.

"I'm fine with being the baddy here as well" hell, I was a 'bad guy' way before. But's for another time.

" 'Um, we don't need to fight if we don't have to…' " Nepgear isn't all that keen to destroy such wonderfully bloomed friendship.

" 'We cane this far, so I won't hear any complaints! If I say jump, you're sure as shit gonna jump!' "

"…" I jump.

" '…' " and Neptune gave me a look that she's about to laugh.

"Give me your support, friends! Let's do this, CPU's! RAAAAAHHHHH!"

The robot charges towards us with a force of a thousand suns.

* * *

_A/N: Hey fans of HDN. I would really like to thank you guys for understanding my situation during the time up of not being able to post everyday. And because of that, it became a some sort of 2 chapter-esque per week thing. I'll be happy to announce, that when April rolls around, presumably after Easter Sunday, I'll go back to my regularly scheduled every day chapter. So stay tuned! (If I don't have any games to play when that time rolls around. DoA 5 LR for PC anyone?)_


	48. Chapter 48

Chapter 48:

"RAAAAAAAH!"

*BAM!*

"The hell!?"

I move out of the way and dodge a series of rocks that were flying towards me. No, rocks are too small, boulders are better. I move backwards, dodging these boulders that are literally right at my face.

"Tch! Too many, dammit!" if I continue to retreat, I'll be hugging the wall next. And that's the problem.

*BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!*

Cornered onto a wall, I dodge with whatever I can. The boulders hit and shook the walls that I'm leaning on. Copypaste continues to throws them at me, like I'm a fly of some sort and that he's afraid of them, throwing random objects just to get rid of them.

" 'YAAAAAAAAAH!' "

*BAM!*

Blanc swoops in from behind and swings her axe at Copypaste's back. This prompts the robot to stop throwing rocks at me.

"What makes you think that's enough to beat me, CPU!" Copypaste shouted and turns while swinging an arm towards Blanc.

*CLASH!*

*BAM!*

She blocked the attacked, but with the heck amount of mass behind that swing, made her fly towards the cave wall.

" 'I don't think you have any right to hurt poor Blanny!' " and you do, Madam?

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

Madam goddess swings her whip-sword at the robot. He turns and blocks it with its arms as he charges towards her. Madam goddess doesn't falter her attacks, instead she continues to rain them down sadistically over at the robot.

"GAAAAAAAAAH!" the robot shouts at the top of its volume as he swings a fist at the madam.

*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*

From above Nepgear fired off a few shots of her multiple-beam something, something around Copypaste. Causing a smoke a screen, prompting the madam to back from her attacks. I kick the wall and run towards the puff of smoke.

"Neptune!" I shout at Neptune who is ready to dive down the smoke.

" 'Right!' " A sword appears before me as I run, I catch it before it falls.

*BANG!*

Neptune and I enter the smoke. I immediately see the silhouette of the robot. He swings a fist at me.

*CLASH!*

*RRRRRRRRRRRR!*

I block the fist. Even when I plant my feet on the ground, I was still being pushed. It's like I'm drawing parallel lines with both of my feat. Peeking over its giant fist, I see some sort of tubing peeking out from the elbow. If learning robotics serves me well, that would be the tubing for the oil on the wrist joints. Well, there could be other uses for that.

*SSSSSSSSSSHHHNNNNG!*

Slipping under the punch, I put a foot forward, jump forward and twist my body while I cut the tube at the elbow.

*CLANGK!*

"Tch...!" before my sword hit, there was a piston that closed of the opening.

Copypaste's hand, the same hand he used to punch me with, is now coming at me for a backhand slap against me. I dive down, missing that hit by a hair. He raised the same hand, clenched it's metallic fist and swings it towards me. This time, I don't dodge.

*CLASH!*

*BANG!*

*CLASH!*

" 'Watch your back, Jared…' "

"All part of the plan, I believe"

Neptune covered my back by blocking another fist that is coming from behind. The smoke screen clears. Neptune and I, both parry the fists upwards and side step out of the way as he slams both of them back down.

*BAM!*

"Hahaha! This is a fun battle, CPU's!" he shouts.

" 'SHUT UP!' '"

Up above, Blanc flies down as she swings her axe at Copypaste's head.

" 'Glad we agree on something, Blanny…!' "

Madam Goddess positions a few inches higher and raise her whip-sword .

*BANG!*

" 'We got you now!' "

Nepgear positioned dangerously close, pointing her gun-sword at point blank range with a glowing thingy at the muzzle. Maybe that's her so-called multiple beam launcher getting ready to fire?

"Neptune…"

" '…I know' " we exchange those words. If there's one thing about Copy during this fight, he still hasn't used…

"I'm not going to let you do that, CPU's!"

As if he has pimples or something, all of his body covered in small holes. My instincts starts to send me adrenaline, as I already figure out what's the next thing going to be.

*BANG!*

"This is gonna be your end!"

" 'What!?' "

Blanc flies back almost immediately at this sudden realization.

" 'Eh…?' "

*BANG!*

*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*

Missiles comes out of those holes, with smoke trails behind them. Their like flies, to be honest. And it's artistically well done as well. The home in on their selected targets and fly at full force. Neptune comes back carrying her little sister. Without looking at the two, I cut down the missiles that were following them.

*CHNG!* *CHNG!* *CHNG!* *CHNG!* *CHNG!* *CHNG!* *CHNG!* *CHNG!* *CHNG!*

I cut down the small missiles. Surprisingly, there not releasing any of those smoke like before.

*CHNG!* *CHNG!* *CHNG!* *CHNG!* *CHNG!* *CHNG!* *CHNG!* *CHNG!* *CHNG!*

For some reason, I'm associating these missiles like bees. Really, their as persistent as they can get. I mean, how many of these missiles does this robot have?

*CHNG!* *CHNG!* *CHNG!* *CHNG!* *CHNG!* *CHNG!* *CHNG!* *CHNG!* *CHNG!*

The moment, the rain of missiles finally ends, I lunge forward using the trails of the bursts from the missiles as cover.

"What!?"

"Try harder metal head!"

"RAAAAAAAAAH!"

*CLASH!*

Flying a fist right at my face, I block it. Just as expected, a tube of sorts is peeking out from the elbow. It seems that it only appears when he straightens his arms like that. Tilting the sword to the side, I drive the fist to the ground.

"Now!"

" 'YAAAAAAAAAAH!' "

*BANG!*

Neptune flies from the side and slashes upwards. The cut tube, releases black liquid. The smell of oil fills my nose. Copypaste, groans, trying to lift his failed left arm.

"I'm not done, yet!" he swing his other arm.

" 'Seeing you like that makes me ecstatic! Show me more!' "

*SWING!* *SCCNG!*

Madam goddess had just swung her weapon. His whole right arm slowly falls, as if it weren't expected to be cut off that easily. Well, even I was surprised that it was easy to cut titanium.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Copypaste shouted. The whole, cave trembled under its shout. Maybe it's a cry of defeat? Or a cry of a battle ending. Either way, I can see the end.

*BANG!*

Nepgear positioned herself once more in front of the giant robot. She pointed her gun-blade right at its chest. Aiming straight down the middle of the chest. The tip of the barrel glowing, her multiple beam launcher is ready to fire.

" 'Multiple beam launcher… FIRE!' "

*BANG!*

A beam of laser shoots out from the barrel. Drilling a hole, at the robot's chest.

" 'And for the finisher…RAAAAAAAAAAAH!' "

Blanc appears from the out of nowhere. She swings her axe right at the robots abdomen with all anger she has. The only thing that flies through my mind is:

"…This woman has issues" she seriously needs to fix that. Well, I really shouldn't say that right at her face, unless I want to have my head severed off. That'd be terrible.

*BAM!*

"GWAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

*BAM!*

The robot flies to the nearby wall. It sends another small shake. It doesn't move, nor does it drive it's wheels and charges in towards us. He's left arm completely and utterly useless. And despite having a hole in the chest, it seems that isn't where the engine is. How sad.

"Hah… haha… I've lost… But I have no regrets. My heart does not waver…!" unless if you have one. Which right now, you haven't…! Cheesy, one liners is cheesy.

"Copy…"

"Copy!" his three new friends runs over to him.

"Ah, you guys. I showed you a pretty sad sight. Saying all that stuff and losing like this…"

"Don't talk right now! Someone, hurry up and bring me a bag of tools!" he isn't going to die, you know. Well, explode is pretty much dying all the same.

"It wasn't a bad life… And now, I get to die, surrounded by friends…" oh really now?

"Don't say such things! We'll fix you up, and then…!" then what? Make him fight us again? I'll pass on that.

"Good-bye, everyone… Thank… you…" and he stops moving. Well, what do you know, he didn't explode. Guess, Nepgear did hit the engine. I stand corrected.

"Copy…? No, Copy! Copyyyyy!"

"Aww… I feel so bad for poor Copypaste…" Plutie, normal self, said sadly.

"Poor, my ass! I won, so why do I still feel like shit?" Blanc asked her guilty heart.

"That is called guilt, my friend. And a conflicting feelings" I answer her.

"Um, Sis? What should we do?" Nepgear asked her big sister.

"Dammit! This is all the CPU's fault! And their dog!" Copypaste's friend blames with teary eyes. He even included me in the mix.

"Shut up! It's not Lady Blanc's fault. It's not, okay!?" his friend defended. Not really all that convincing with a face that wants to kill us.

"But… But Copy…!"

"They're flashing us some really resentful looks…" Nepgear said.

"In times like this, the best course of action is… to board the Jared express!" Neptune runs towards me first.

"Now I'm being turned into chauffer"

"Please, you do like to carry me, right?"

"And why am I not thinking of a retort for that?" sighing… I carry Neptune, bridal style.

"Neppy, next time. Can I be carried like that next?"

"Sorry, Plutie. This seat is reserved for me! You can take the back if you like"

"Okay!" Plutie climbs onto my back.

"Bye-bye, Blanc! Good luck!" Neptune waves at Blanc.

"Yeah, good luck…!"

"Now, run Jared!" Neptune commanded.

"Nepgear, on me" I make a light jog to the exit after that shout.

"Wait, don't leave me behind!" I'm not, this is just a light jog that anyone can follow.

With Nepgear catching up, I match her pace and we make our way out of the cave.


	49. Chapter 49

Chapter 49:

It's easy to blame others for things we don't understand. Rather than feeling the heaviness of that uncomfortable feeling, we use others as scape goats to make us feel relieved. Comprehending the unknowing, is really scary. And the slightest bit of suspicion can spark countless conclusions. I've talked about how information is needed. But information can be misleading. And often we base it on those information whether or not they represent the full picture or not. And as an old saying literally goes, 'The devil is not as black as we paint him to be'.

"Phew, we can finally take a breather. I hope Histy's pulling her weight and stuff…"

"I wonder. The kids don't how to hold back, so they might be squeezing her to death…"

"Don't say that, Nepgear. At least say it nicely, like, hugging her until she can't breathe"

"That's even way worse…"

"I know, right"

The elevator rises towards the top floor of Planeptune Tower. I forgot that going to Leanbox needs sea transportation. Although, we can have the Nep sister's carry me and Plutie towards Leanbox. It would be too tiring for them both, going back and forth I mean. So, we came back for just a while to get something. And by something, I mean a life boat. Yeah, apparently we have one at the Basilicom, I don't know why.

And also, I didn't forget to bring back some cake that I promised as a prize for the three kids. Call me doting, but the only way to discipline them is to put the carrot before the horse. I'll also teach them, little by little, that horses can act even without a carrot dangling in front of them.

*TING!*

With the elevator stopping to our floor. We wait for the automatic doors to open. But sadly that didn't come, and what replaced of it was this low rumbling sound that is coming out of the other side. My instincts tickle me.

"Hmmm? Something sounds fun…" that really isn't my definition of a bad feeling, Plutie.

"Huh? This doesn't feel normal" there we go. Now we got the theme right. Nice one, Neptune.

"Maybe it's the Seven Sages?" Nepgear concluded as such.

"Uh-oh! In that case, we're in for something terrible!"

Without a second thought, I push the manual open button for the elevator. Revealing to us a familiar corridor. We run towards the living room, without taking our shoes off. It didn't take long for us to see mini-Histy dangling by the leg by some other woman I don't know.

She has fair skin with bright teal eyes and blonde hair worn in a hime-cut that flares outward on the ends. On her head is a big pink bow with a stylized skull in the center and frills that line the bow against magenta lining.

Her clothing resembles a "sweet lolita" and consists of a light pink dress with very pale pink-white ruffles at the neck, chest, two parts of the sleeve, and seven spots of the skirt. Accenting the dress are magenta bows and a big skull in the center of the skirt matching the one on her hair bow. She also has pink shoes with black underneath and a big magenta bow on each shoe to match the laces, along with loose white socks.

"We have concrete evidence! Prepare yourself!" she dangles mini-Histy around. Now, where is her book. Oh, it's right at the top of the counter.

"I am trying to explain that this is a misunderstanding. Please release me! (｡_｡)"

"Hey! Don't bully Histoire!"

"Waaah! This little girl is scary!"

"Bad Lady! HI-YAH!" Peashy chopped the…um, the gothic lolita girl.

"Ow! That wasn't playful at all! Even if you're a little girl, I'll get mad if I have to!" that doesn't sound all that convincing though.

"…"

"Judging by how baffled you are, Neptune. Based on your little sister's conclusion earlier, is she really a part of the Seven Sages? Because I'll be damned if she is"

"Yep. This is the attack quality we've come to expect from the Seven Sages"

"I see…" so she is a part of the Seven Sages. Guess, I'm going to be damned.

"Is that girl a member of the Seven Sages?" Nepgear asked.

"Yeah. She babbles on and on about protecting the world's kids or whatever" what a noble thing to do.

"Abnes, don't tease Histy…!" Plutie holds the girl's wrist, and with the power of physics, it made mini-Hisity fly. Well she does fly, but you get the idea. I catch her. And her name is Abnes, got to remember that.

"You okay…"

"…" she gives a small thumbs up, before she sits up.

"Oh, you're back! So you all were behind the kidnappings, I see! You can't get away with it now!" so we're kidnappers, now?

"I have been trying to tell you that it is a misunderstanding… (-_-;)"

"KICK!"

*THONK!*

"Gwah!? Ow, ow, OW!" Peashy just kicked the Abnes' shin.

"Fight hard, Pea!" kid-Compa cheers.

"Compa, we should help too" kid-Iffy said.

"Ugh! Three against one!? No fair! Ow, ow, ow!" the kids gang up on Abnes.

"Woooow… The kids are super tough…" kids have a lot of energy after all, Plutie.

"Well, I've been their mentor. They won't lose to a little girl!" on wrestling, Neptune?

"Is it okay to leave this alone, though? The kids won't know when to stop…" Nepgear worries.

"Hi-Yah!"

"I…I'm doing my best!"

"Fall into darkness! Evil, begone!"

*SMACK!* *SMACK!* *SMACK!*

"No, stop! It hurts! Someone, help me!"

"I actually want to stop them, but we have an intruder here so I'll let it pass" I answer Nepgear.

"This is a pretty rare thing to see, so we should let it play out for now" the big sister also agrees with me.

"For once, I agree with Neptune. She must be put in her place for a bit longer. (￣m￣"

"I hope this is okay to do…" the little sister still worries.

And after 30 minutes…

* * *

"Gwah! Seriously, knock it off!"

"Okay you three,I think that's enough" I pull back the three kids from their fun.

"HYAAAAAH! *hic!* *hic!* Stupid… Stupid CPU!" Abnes is crying like a child that has her candy and lunchbox taken away from her.

"Whoa! Hey, don't involve me in your scuffle"

"Yay! I win!" Peashy victoriously said.

"Yippee…!"

"Hmhm. She was nothing" kid-Compa and kid-Iffy also did so, respectively.

"Yay, you were all so cool…! Good job, little heroines!" Plutie petted their heads.

"Why're you praising them!? As an adult, you should be scolding them for this!" and as an adult, we're wired to beat the crap out of intruders.

"You got what you deserved. (￣^￣) You made no attempt to hear me out"

"Ugh, well, I know that this is supposed to be a nursery of some kind, but…" but what?

"Still, the children are not being raised properly! They the right to a proper education!"

"Such slander. I've been educating these three properly, you know" as the guy who has the role of "raising the majority of their life" that is kinda insulting.

"Oh yeah? Show me!"

"Okay then, Compa"

"Yes?"

"Be a dear and prove with mathematical induction De Moivre's theorem. Which is [ R (cos t + i sin t) ]^n = (R^n)(cos nt + i sin nt)"

"Um… it's… [ R (cos t + i sin t) ] ^1 =( R^ 1)(cos 1*t + i sin 1*t)… then, [ R (cos t + i sin t) ]^ k = (R^ k)(cos kt + i sin kt)… after that it's, [ R (cos t + i sin t) ]^( k + 1) = (R ^(k + 1)) [ (cos kt cos t - sin kt sin t) + i (sin kt cos t + cos kt sin t) ]… and finally, [ R (cos t + i sin t) ] ^(k + 1) = (R^ (k + 1)) [ cos (k + 1)t + sin(k + 1)t ]. And if it's true for n=k, then it's also true for n= k + 1!"

"Good job, high five!"

"Ay!"

*CLAP!*

"Iffy, what monster that is vaguely anthropoid outline, but with an octopus-like head whose face was a mass of feelers, a scaly, rubbery-looking body, prodigious claws on hind and fore feet, and long, narrow wings behind?"

"Cuthulu!"

"Good!" we high fived.

"And Peashy, what's the best way when you're fighting with an unknown stranger?"

"You scream, punch then run!"

"Good job!" we also high fived.

"Wooow, they're so smart…!" Plutie clapped in joy.

"I'm really starting to wonder about him now" Nepgear said.

"…I guess, Jared has some similarities with Neptune as well. （￣□￣；）"

"Guah! That's not even called proper education. And why are you teaching that last one to fight?"

"It's called self defense. All kids needs to learn a few basic moves" I argue at Abnes' statement.

"Guh… Still teaching to fight is a crime!" and why is that a crime?

"Yeah, yeah. A beaten dog will howl or whatever" Nice one, Neptune. I forgot about that statement.

"Grr! The foolish CPU just made a fool of me!"

"Neppy, don't tease her too much…" Plutie said.

"Um, it's not really my place to say, Sis, but… She's wiping away some tears…" Nepgear said as Abnes does so.

"I won't take a CPUs charity! You really aren't the criminals here, are you?"

"Jeez, of course not. We told you like a gajillion times. I bet the Seven Sages are behind this!" Neptune stated.

"Huh? Why would they be!?"

"Blanc made me read this detective novel once" and no, I didn't saw her reading during this whole time. Maybe it was the time when I was not here. Meaning, the time at the other dimension.

"To throw people off, the criminals would accuse others of the thing they did!" and whoever made that novel has no knowledge of how professional criminals actually work. And yes, being a criminal is a profession.

"Yeah, so that's gotta be exactly what's happening here! I swear on my grandpa's name!" and you have a grandpa!?

"Oh, Neppy has a grandpa…"

"We don't, actually" Nepgear corrected Plutie.

"Th-That's the flimsiest logic I've ever heard! There's no way that's the case!"

"Neptune… (-_-;) Without any proof, that _does _sound pretty forced…"

"Well, at least we have something rather than nothing, right?" I reply.

"As long as Abnes is around, I do not believe the Seven Sages would stoop to kidnapping. (￣-￣)"

"No, seriously, it's misdirection. This is totally the pattern where the least likely suspect did it" what kind of novel is Blanc making you read?

"Knock it off! Have you bothered to think about how the accused person feels about this!?" not really.

"I would like to throw that comment right back at you. (￣^￣)"

"You being bad elsewhere, so why not toss some kid stealing in there? Makes sense, right?" she turns to to me and Nepgear for support.

"A-Are you talking to me? Um, well…"

"Totally, Neptune. I can even attest to that"

"Hey! What was that sublte comment about us doing bad things elsewhere?" hm?

"Pretending to be innocent so fast, are we?" Neptune reads between the lines.

"I'm not pretending anything! I'm seriously asking if what you said is true"

"Uh-huh! Noire and Blanny and Vert all left in a hurry…" Plutie said.

"This is the first I've heard about it. Ooooh, those idiots are off doing their own thing!" she runs for the elevator.

"Whoa, the suspect is trying to resist arrest! Cuff her!" Neptune follows.

"No running!"

"Wait!" kid-Iffy and Peashy follows.

"Uh, um, s-stay back! I can't waste any more time here with all of you" with the elevator door open. Abnes heads inside and it immediately closes. Allowing the elevator to fall.

"Okey-dokey, bye-bye… Be caaaaareful…" Plutie waves.

"Ugh, I cornered the culprit and let her escape. I'm a failure as a famous crime-solving girl!"

"Sorry woman, you have to be better than that to be a famous crime-solving girl" I pet Neptune's head.

"But I did notice how suspicious she was acting. (￣^￣)"

"The Seven Sages don't seem to have a lot of solidarity" you can say that again, Nepgear.

"That may be true, but at this point, it is nothing more than conjecture. (-_-)"

"True that. In any case since the issue with intruder is done, I'll just put this cake inside the fridge"

"Cake! Cake!" kid-Compa is glee.

"Yeah, it's a big one too. Just look it"

"Let's eat it now" kid-Iffy said.

"Have you had your bath?"

"Mhm!" the three nodded.

"Just a little, alright? Let's not spoil you're dinner"

"'Kaaay!" the children takes the box before I even took it into the fridge.

"Can we have some too, Jared?" Neptune asked.

"I think you already know, the answer to that. Just don't spoil you're dinner"

"Don't worry, I have a separate stomach for sweets!" I know. And it makes me wonder as well.

"I'll go get the plates!" Plutie announced.

"I'll do the slicing! Stand away kiddo's, let me do the cutting!"

"Why did we come back here again?" Nepgear asked.

"To get a boat and to rest a bit, I believe" I answer her.

"I'll go help out with the cake"

"…Right, I'll go look for the life boat that we can use"


	50. Chapter 50

Chapter 50:

"Whew, Leanbox is like an ocean away! Walking, then boating, then more walking..." Neptune complained.

"I'm soooo tired... I can't take another step..." Plutie said.

"Maybe I should say that since I was the rowing the damn boat..." and I was rowing against the waves.

We plow the forest towards Leanbox. After a gruesome battle at the sea, leaving my arms so numb, we have to walk through a forest to get to the Basilicom. I'm not that tired per se, but imagine the horror that my arms are experiencing right now, truly terrifying.

"It's just a little farther, so please stay strong" Nepgear cheered.

"Awww... It's so far, but Vert comes to see us so often..." she, sneaks into the Basilicom, Plutie.

"It's an earnest expression of love for Nep Jr. As her big sis, I can't let my guard down!"

"She is persistent"

"Hehehe. I think her love is a bit much to handle..."

"Ugh... No more... I need a break..." Plutie stops walking and sat on a root of a tree.

"No, don't sit down. If you do, you might get eaten by a monster" and why would she get eaten by a monster?

"This is fine, dear sis of mine. we're this close to town, so there aren't any monsters"

"Isn't it because you want to sit down as well, Neptune" I say to her as she sis down next to Plutie.

"Ehehe..." called it.

"Maybe so, but still..."

"I highly doubt that a monster is going to pop out of nowhere. This part of the forest does look like it's been used several times" monsters are like animals, they leave their home once their home has been invaded by another species. I sit beside, Neptune.

"Okay, it's unanimous! Take your seat, Nepgear!" Neptune declared.

"Sit, sit, sit" Plutie insisted.

"Here, I think you can schooch over beside me"

"Well... fine. Just for a minute" the little sister gave up, she walks over to us as ruslting noise comes from behind us.

*Rustle*

"Hmm?" she looks curiously at the source...

"..." okay, that face looks funny.

"What's up? Why're you spacing out or whatever?" Neptune asked.

"What she said, you literaly have a face of a surprised fish"

"Hey, lookie. Over here..." Plutie wave a hand in front of her face.

"Um, b-behind... you..." she points behind us.

"Huh?" we all turn back. And immdiately we saw...

"Kiiiiiiiiii!"

"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Plutie screamed.

"Wh-what is this thing?" Neptune panicks.

"Hmm... Isn't that a..."

The thing in question is a fish out of water. No, I mean seriously, it is a living fish that can breath oxygen and is bouncing up and down. In any case, the fish has fins on it's back, a big lip Brown colored above and it's underbelly is light gold. And it's pores are kinda visible. Wait...

"Oh, it's an Diodon nicthemerus"

"Be careful! Come over here, quickly!" Nepgear urged, we do as she says.

"Kyay! Kyayiiiii!"

"Uh, is it pumped to see us? I-If you wanna fight, then a f-fight you shall have!" Neptune summons her sword with shaking hands.

"Ewwww. It's soooooo gross" Plutie is absolutely grossed out.

"I'd prefer to avoid a fight, too" even Nepgear.

"Hmm..." looking at it closely, it looks like any other Diodon nicthemerus that I've seen before. Maybe the girls haven't seen one, that would explain their disgust to it.

" 'I've found you!' "

"Vert!?"

From behind us, Vert suddenly appered in her transformed mode.

" 'Hmm? Why are you all here?' "

"We came to help you, but..."

"Kuhiii! Kyaaaah!" the creature growls.

"It seems the we're being attacked by this thing" I finish Plutie's explanation.

"What is this, Verty-poo!? I've never seen a monster as weird as this thing!" Neptune asked.

" 'I'll explain later. For now, help me!' "

"Ewwwwwww. Sooooooo icky..." Plutie is just absolutely turned off from this.

"PETA is going to kill us for this..." although PETA is way worse.

*BANG*

Vert charges towards the creature.

"Kiiiiii!"

As she passes, the creature was struck. Causing it to bounce upwards.

*BANG!*

Vert lunges towards it again, and this time, she a thrusts her spear at it.

"Kiiiiiiiiiiiii!" I'm surprised that that thing didn't pop like a balloon like it was supposed to be. Well, it is a monster still, maybe it has a bit of resilience to it.

The creature flies towards us, specifically it's flying towards my face. Wanting to protect my face, I Move my head to the side.

"Nepu!"

Looking back it seems that the creature is heading straight for Neptune. Damn it, I should have known. In her panic, instead of hitting it with her sword, she ducks down and avoided it.

"Fweeeh!?"

The creature is now flying towards Plutie. Her face is in pure panic. She looks left and right struggling to know what to do.

"Plutie, hit it!" Neptune shouts.

"Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww!" Plutie summons a... um... ah, doll? And swings it at the creature.

"Kiiiiiiiiiii!" the creature then flies to another person.

*SMACK!*

"Eh, goodness, ack!" Nepgear was hit straight on the face by the monster. She staggers backwards, recovering her balance.

" 'Nepgear... you'll pay!' "

Vert readies her spear and throws it towards the creature in mid-flight. It didn't even pop, or rather it didn't even got pierced by it. The creature heads towards the ground and bounces towards Neptune next.

"Nepu, nepu, nepu!" she swings frantically, hitting it.

"Kiiiii!"

It heads towards a tree and bounces of from the trunk, and, you guessed it, it's heading straight towards me. I jump, twist my body in mid-flight and raise a leg. When the creature is now in optimal distance, I kick it, performing a side back kick.

*THUG!*

It flies towards the same trunk and bounces towards another unsuspected victim.

"Uhhh... Goodness, not again!" Nepgear ducked. Well, at least she didn't get hit the second time around.

"I don't wanna...!" Plutie was the next target, she also ducks down to the avoid the creature's ping pong nature.

" 'Yaaaah!' "

Vert swings her spear downward. The creature hits the ground and bounces high in the second type of projectile motion. With quick physics work, it seems that it's going land right in front of me.

"Neptune, sword!"

"You got it!" a katana appears, I catch it before it falls, and ready on a batter stance.

"Kuhiiiiiii!"

"This should slice ya!"

I swing the sword like a batter hitting a fast ball and flying it out of the park. It flies high, like it wants to touch the clouds above. It hits an unsuspected bird and falls down with any of such grace.

"Kuhiiii..." and it's still alive? By now this thing should be all sliced and diced. The creature jumps away...

" 'We couldn't stop it. Such a fierce will to live...' " Vert comments.

"What was that thing!? I demand an explanation!" Neptune demands.

" 'I would like one, myself' "

"So you're not sure, either?" Nepgear confirms."

" 'Precisely' " Vert untransformed.

"I received word while in Planeptune and hurried back, but the monster had already gone wild" as we have deduced when you were called.

"It has to be the Seven Sages" Nepgear concluded again.

"It is probable, but there's no way to be certain"

"It sounds like eeeeeeeeeeverything is the Seven Sages' fault..." Plutie said.

"They are the bad guys after all"

"Yeah, whenever anything weird happens, we can just shrug and be like 'those tricky Seven Sages!'"

"Those tricky Seven Sages! Curse them!... Just like that, Neptune?"

"Naah, I bit more... um, umph!"

"Those bastards! Those Seven Sages! Fuck them! Fuck them!"

"That's the spirit!" she gives a thumbs up.

"I wonder if there are any more of that monster..." Nepgear wondered.

"There are. I've located over ten. Thankfully, they don't do much, so damage has been minimal" Vert answered.

"However, they are quite energetic and run away quick, so honestly, I'm not sure how to proceed"

"Hmm, I see. That sucks. Keep at it, Vert!"

"Bye-Bye!"

When I look at why my girls voices were so very distant, it's because Neptune and Plutie are already waving their goodbye's.

"Huh? Plutia? Sis...?"

"W-Wait. I thought you were here to help me?" Vert asked.

"Well, we planned to, but uh... You know. I mean, right?"

"Fighting that monster was sooooo super icky. And it made weird noises..." Plutie says her distaste.

"Oh man, you heard them too? Ugh, that was the worst!"

"I agree. It was pretty much the grosses thing in the world to me" Nepgear adds.

"I have to deal with that, too" Vert said.

So... I'm the only one here not disgusted by that thing? Not because I'm a man and have to keep appearances. But I have my fair share of squealing like a girl in her tootsies that I have grown rather immune to them.

"That's why I'm asking for your help!"

"Vert really sounds like she's in trouble..." Nepgear urged.

"But if those things are stuck on Leanbox, there's no real reason for us to get worried" Neptune said.

"If we don't stop them here, they spawn in Planeptune"

"True, they're still fish after all. Heck, we might even see a huge wave of them"

"Ewwwwww! I'd hata that..." Plutia said.

"You would, wouldn't you? Then it's settled"

"Lame. Only Vert could make us an offe we couldn't refuse. You're like the Boobfather or whatever" boobfather?

"I'll take that as a compliment"

"Um, helping is great and all, but based on what you said, they'll run away from us" Nepgear reconfirms.

"Quite. That's why I've given up on eliminating one at a time"

"...And just settle on finding where they come from, right?" I add.

"That's right. Whoever released them must be here, so I believe chasing the monsters will lead us to them"

"I see. This is no time to talk, then! It'll get away from us!"

"If we chase after them, we'll just get tired and sweaty..."

"Just like how I found you, those monster is resting. Let us be on our way"

"I guess it's settled, huh? Oh well. Let's just do this so we can go home" Neptune is all that into this.

"Aww... I really, really don't wanna..."

"I'll buy a buck load of pudding if we get home before dinner"

"Really!? I'll do anything for pudding!" Neptune runs ahead.

"Uwaaa... Neppy is fired up now...!"

"I guess, pudding is the only thing to keep motivated" Nepgear said.

"What are you guys waiting for... Let's find that thing!" she looks behind and waves at us.


	51. Chapter 51

Chapter 51:

"_haa… haa…_"

I jumped from tree to tree, following the creature that is jumping from thicket to thicket. We found the thing taking its sweet ass time to head to where it's going. Until a wild snake appears, making the thing jump back, landing on Plutie's head, making her scream, and letting it run away again. Yeah, coincidence? I think not.

"Damn, that shit is fast!" it's literally jumping from feet to feet.

I jump from a branch and catch another branch. I swing off from it and land on a 'Y' split of a tree. I launch myself once more and catch a branch to swing off to. I give myself a few seconds to get my bearings right.

"Where the hell did that thing go?"

"_haa… haa…_ You're way too…_haa… haa… _fast…" Vert breathes heavily.

"Sorry for that, I just have to. Now, where in the hell did that thing head to?" pulling myself up. I balance myself on the branch and scan the area full of thickets.

"Nothing..." where the hell is that thing? I can't seem to find it anywhere.

"Jared! Can you see it from up there?" Neptune asked from below.

"Nope. He's probably resting at some thicket" but with all these thickets here, it's near damn impossible to find the bloody fish.

"And I thought I told you not to chase after it, now I'm all sweaty" Vert said.

*RUSTLE!*

"Hey… that bush is rustling…" Nepgear pointed to some thicket.

"Where?"

"Right near that three over there…" launching myself towards another branch, I swing off from it and land on a branc sticking towards me. I move along towards the trunk, and made a quick pass to another branch on the other side.

"This one?"

"Yeah…"

*RUSTLE!*

Seems I'm right on top of it. I look at the thicket intensely for any signs of life in it. In between the gaps of the leaves and branches, there really is something in there. Something small? Can't tell from where I am.

"Kuhiiiiiiii!"

"Fuck…!"

The thing jumped out of nowhere and was heading straight for me. I try avoiding it, but in doing so, I sacrificed my balance. I fall towards the ground, back first.

*THUD!*

"Damn it…"

"Kuhiii! Kiiii! Kiii!" the thing continues to jumps away from us.

"Jared, you okay?" Neptune was the first to come to me.

"No, I feel like I'm going to puke some ketchup soon. Anyway, where is it?"

"It's, jumping away from us" Plutie said.

"Let's go before it gets away. Jared, can you run?" Vert asked.

"Unfortunately, I can"

We start to chase after the creature that is running away from us. We push through the thick thickets as we chase after it. The thing jumps far, and fast. Even the thickets isn't hindering it from getting away from us. Then, we didn't see it appear from jumping again. We head to where we think we've last seen it.

"Damn it…" we lost it again...

"I saw it take off last over there…" Vert pointed.

"Let's search around for it, it could still be nearby" Nepgear suggested.

"Eh? You're going to have delicate girls search this place?" Neptune whined.

"We're veeeeery delicate, y'know…" Plutie supported.

"Want these guys to spawn in Planeptune?" I ask.

"Hey, what are we waiting for? Let's search this place before it gets away!"

"Hooo!" these two change attitude's fast.

Commencing our search for the creature. We walk slowly towards where Vert pointed to earlier inspecting every thicket we pass by. We're spread out pretty evenly making for that thing hard to escape. Picking up some random stick, I poke around the thickets.

"Poke, poke, poke, poke… Hm?" I think I caught something from poking.

"A worm…" having lifted my stick, the worm coils around the stick.

"Hm..." I stare at its invertebrate body.

"Hmmmm… Length: 5 inches. Thickness: 2 cm… A healthy looks worm, indeed" I spew random words at it.

Thinking at it's better to return to searching, I flick the stick and let the worm fly to nowhere in this forest full of thickets. I continue to search, until we arrive at the location where Vert pointed at with no spoils to speak about.

"We can't find the darn thing"

"You could say that again, Neptune"

"We can't find the darn thing" okay, I didn't mean to be literal about it.

"Did it get too far away?" Nepgear said.

"No, I saw it take off in this direction. Just a little…!" I held a hand, signifying Vert to stop talking.

"Huh? Why did you stop talking?" Plutie asked.

"Quiet… there's someone over there"

Walking slowly, trying to make less noise as possible. I follow where the source of a fellow human being talking. As I follow it, I can hear the gentleness of a river flowing, along with the human voice that I can hear. Reaching towards the end of the forest, I signal them to go forward until they reach the edge as I climb up a tree.

I slowly balance from a branch and jump to another, softly landing. I do this for a couple more until I reach the edge of the forest. I take a seat with my back at the trunk. I look down and see that the girls are hiding comfortably.

The end of the forest is pretty straight forward. There's a river flowing from the east and heading down stream towards the west. On the other side is another forests. But the main concern for me is that, there's human being there wearing a business suit and feels like he's in his mid-40's. He seems to be talking to a child, since his back is turned and is crouching to someone.

"Kiaaaa! Kueee! Kiiii!" hm? Um… why am I hearing that thing?

"Oh, I see. The CPU bullied you. There, there. It's be okay" he seems to be petting something…

"Kuiiiii?"

"Kuiiiiiii~!" um… there's two more…?

"See, now you've worried your sisters. Don't cry, okay?"

I balance myself and jump to another tree getting a good view of what the heck is going on. And to my horror, not really, I see three _Diodon nicthemerus_ all gathering in front of the man. Plus that said man, has a grin of a father looking after her daugthers.

"Ew. One, two… three of 'em" Neptune said.

"That's the jerk who was being a big meanie to Blanny!" Plutie remembered the guy.

"I heard about that. He's Mr. Badd if I'm right"

"That's right, and it he's part of the Seven Sages" Nepgear said.

"And we've caught him red-handed. Halt, villain!" Vert jumps out of her hiding spot, everyone does so as well. Hey, I was planning for a sneak attack. Oh well, I'll just stay here.

"Hm? The CPUs!?" he turns to look at them.

"You've really crossed the line, bringing such monsters into my nation…"

"No! You've been much worse to me!" he retorted without letting her finish.

"But these creature… Wait. W-why are you upset with me…?" Vert is dumbfounded.

"Did you break his heart without realizing it? That's so Vert!" aren't you thumbing Vert as a woman who hits on old guys and breaks up with them at a drop of a hat. If so Neptune, that seems plausible.

"Don't talk as if you know! I don't remember anything like that"

"You'll continue to lie to me!? You made my lovely daughter cry!" that's a shocker. Vert is making people cry left and right.

"She did?" Nepgear is shocked.

"Vert, that's really naughty…"Plutie said.

"I have no idea what he's talking about! It's truly a bald-faced lie from a balding man!" Vert defends herself.

"So the old dude's married, huh? I guess everyone can have lowered expectations…" Neptune said.

"We could say the same to you, Sis…"

"You still want to play dumb!? She's crying right in front of you, right now!" Hm? I don't see anyone?

"Huh? Wh-Where is she…?" Vert also looks around.

"Here! Right here!" Mr. Badd point to… ah…

"Kiii…kuiii…"…Overclocking brain.

"…What?" Vert has a confused face.

"Hurry and apologize to her. Tell my daughter you are sorry!"

"U-Um, pardon my rude question, but is your wife… well… Is she human…?"

"I am a single father!" he bellowed.

"Whoa, just hold a sec. I'm totally confused" don't worry Neptune, I'm having hard time processing this as well.

"Nope, I got it! You're hermaphrodite! You sowed and reaped your own seed!" nice, nice. Very good theory there Neptune. I can accept that.

"Wow, that makes sense! He does seem kind of like a tortoise or a slimy snail!" Nepgear… you're making me imagine him into one.

"Oh, so he's a slimy snail… I thought he was a person!" yes Plutie, he is one.

"Wh-Who are you calling a snail!?" oh you're not? Then you're a tortoise then.

"Er, ahem" he clears he's throat.

"Perhaps my explanation was a bit unclear" feel free to elucidate this unknowable feelings of ours.

"This girl is not my real child. I love her like a daughter. They see me as their father" I'm still damn confused!

"Kuii! Kuii!"

"Kuiiiiiii!"

"Yes, yes. Just a bit longer, okay?" he pets them… oh gawd. Y'know, I've been living enough to know all kinds of shit. But this is a whole new level of shit. This is on a totally new level of it.

"I-Is that so? My mind went to a different, far more disturbing place" what would that mean, Vert? He's fetish for monster girls, maybe?

"Still, gross. How could you see some icky, ulgy monster that says 'kuii' as your daughter?" Neptune you should have not asked.

"What was that!?" see? You just stepped on a land mine.

"D-Don't be so rude, Sis. I mean, well, to each their own" Nepgear said to her big sis.

"Did you call my daughter both icky _and _ugly!?" well… aren't they not? Good thing I'm here since I won't be able to say what's on my head.

"I think he's reeeeeeally pissed" he really is, Plutie.

"Kuiiii!"

"Kuii! Kuiii!" even those things are angry.

"Of all the insults… You CPU's will even demean children, calling them icky and ugly!?" this guy has issues.

"Jeez, he's really pissed off! But I mean, come on! They're seriously gross" Neptune, please! I think I can hear veins popping.

"S-Sis! I said not to talk like that!" even Nepgear is siding with me.

"Never… I will never forgive you! Prepare yourselves. I will defeat you today!"

"Kuiii!"

"Kukuuiiii!"

"Oh, you'll fight with me? The let's defeat these hateful CPU's together!" wow…

"Kuiiii!"

"Odd. Now we're the ones who seem like the villains. I thought my nation was in danger, but…" such is life, Vert. Not really.

"Right? It's like, 'What the goodness, you guys' you know?" Neptune said.

"Well, it makes no difference. After all, they've come here to defeat us! Let's turn the tides to them!"

"Ruaaaaah!"

*BAM!*

From behind Mr. Badd, a giant robot lands behind him, I think it's about 20 feet. It's big and fat, and has clamps as its hands. Like those cheap robot toys from the mall. The robot takes him and places him on the cockpit on its belly. It stands mightily in front of the girls.

"Now, CPU's! Face your defeat!"


	52. Chapter 52

Chapter 52:

"Yaaaaaaah!"

*SWING!* *SWING!* *KICK!*

Mr. Badd's robot, with him sitting on a provided chair, on its belly, does a simple unorthodox 1-2-3 combo. Vert ducked down and side-stepped, avoiding all three. I've got to be honest here, it kinda looks like Mr. Badd is sitting on a robot's baby carrier or something. I digress…

"Nepu! Get away from me!" Neptune runs away

"Kuiii! Kuiii!"

"Weeeeeh! There's jumping all over us!" Plutie followed her.

"Kuiii! Kuiii!"

"Goodness, not my hair again!" Nepgear is in a pinch with her hair being pulled by one of those things.

"Hahaha! See, CPUs, you can't beat us father and daughters!" Mr. Badd shouted as he commands his robot to continue swinging its fist.

"Won't you quit with it already…!"

*SWING!*

Vert dodged another swing. The robot lifts its leg and perform a fast front kick. She side stepped at the nick of time. The robot stomps the ground with its raised leg, and raised two arms. He slams it down towards the ground, overshadowing her.

*BAM!*

"For something that big, it's quick..." Vert had just stepped back, dodging the attack. She takes quick ready stance of her spear and thrusts it towards Mr. Badd.

*CLASH!*

"Tch!"

"Hoho… you're very light on your feet…"

The robot had held out a hand, stopping Vert's attack.

"I'll cut that hand off!" Vert retreats her spear and started swinging at it.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

Vert attacks without any hesitation. Flashes of sparks dance as her spear attacks the robotic hand.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

The held up robotic hand stays there, without ever flinching.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

Vert continues her attack. Sparks of steel between steel fly all over.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

"_haa… haa... _Why…?" she steps back, clearly tired from her ordeal.

"I told you CPU, this will be your end…" Mr. Badd steer it's robot to rise. It stands tall in front of Vert intimidatingly. Mr. Badd has a smirk of victory on his face.

"This will be your end!" his robot flies a fist at her.

*CLASH!*

Vert thrusts her spear, stopping the fist.

"Neptune, sword!" I run along the branch of the tree.

"Nepu! Nepu! Nepu!...Eh?"

"Sword, now!" I jump…

"Got it!..."

"Kuiii!"

"Neppy! Ruuun aaaawwaaay!"

Reaching the height of my jump, I grab the katana that Neptune provided. And if want to know what the three are doing, they're doing their best to grab attention of those fish. And by I mean that, I mean, that they're just running around.

Reversing the hold of my sword, I raise it up over my head and fall down on top of Mr. Badd with the intent to kill. But a robotic arm quickly blocks my view of him, blocking my attack on the pilot.

*CLASH!*

"Hm? And who might you be?"

"Some random passerby, derp"

I push down the sword, digging it on the metal arm. I then raise both of my legs and use the robot arm as a pole to swing downwards. I let go, place my feet together and perform a drop kick right at Mr. Badd's face. Breaking he's glasses.

"Uguh!" I jump back, and land acrobatically on the ground. The giant robot staggers backward, as Mr. Badd feels its face.

"You okay, Vert?"

"Took you long enough"

"I was relaxing back there. Sorry…"

"In any case..."

"Guah! You'll pay for kicking my thousand credits glasses!" for an old face, that sure looks quite cheap.

"Follow my lead Vert!" I lunge towards Mr. Badd.

Mr. Badd commands his robot to charge towards me. The robot swings its arm in sweeping motion under me. I slide on the ground, as I ready my hands to catch the sword that is sticking out like a thorn on its arm and a leg for a quick getaway. The arm comes to me, with excellent timing.

"Gotcha!" catching the sword, I instantly stand up and twist my body to a twirl, avoiding the arm.

"…!" I move to the side right afterwards, as a spear comes flying from behind me.

"Hm…!" despite Mr. Badd being an old business man, he's was still able to anticipate it and has jumped to the side. Taking the spear in mid-flight, I twist my body again. I use the momentum, and throw it towards him.

*CLASH!*

I missed. The spear pierces the robots chest. Since Mr. Badd is on the belly… you get the point.

"Ha! Missed!"

"I wouldn't think so, old man!"

"Hiyaaah!"

"What!?"

*BANG!*

A saber sword flies off from behind me. The beam saber flies towards Mr. Badd. He commands his robot to raise an arm, blocking the attack. I run after the weapon. Catching the weapon, I reverse hold of my weapons. The huge machine, swing it's fist at me. I duck down, avoiding two massive punches over me. Rising, I quickly throw the katana first.

*CLANG!*

Right and there, I threw, Nepgear's weapon. There's a reason why I'm persistent with this weapon. And you'll know soon enough.

He tries to block it, but it shoots through the gaps of the arms. I flies towards next to the spear that is sticking out. But instead of just being stuck, it digs through the metal like butter. Digging itself unti the hilt of the sword.

"I'm not getting caught in that" I jump back, avoiding something potential.

"Oh no…" Mr. Badd, looking up and realizing what I've done to his robot, said thus.

*BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!*

A huge fireball erupted. A series of explosions explodes one after the other, like fireworks on a summer festival.

"That's overkill…" Vert said, as she steps forward.

"Haha… Yup, part of the plan"

"Uaaaaaah!"

"Hm?" looking up, I see an old man wearing a suit, coming down from the sky. Vert and I take a step to the side.

*BAM!*

"Uhhh…! It's a good thing I hit the eject button…" he mumbled.

"Kuii! Kuiiii!" all three of those creatures hops towards him. Seems like their bruised.

"Ew. They're so energetic. These things really _are _tough" Neptune said.

"So you two are responsible for their bruises"

"Yup!"

"Damn… Not just me, but now my daughters are being shamed…" a doting father…

"You came after me, didn't you? It's a fitting reward" Vert said.

"Grrr…"

"Blehhhh… Fighting them was sooooo nasty…" Plutie complained.

"There, there now Plutie.." Neptune pets her head.

"I know. It's like my hair is covered in sludge or something" Nepgear said.

"I have a shampoo that's good with removing that, I'll let you have some"

"Sure. It's really sticky…" only reason I have those types was a contingency plan if I'm going fight those spider-man's again. Dear gawd, the thought is shivering.

"Hmph. This was but a test for things to come! It was also their first true battle" Mr. Badd announced sinisterly.

"PETA is going to kill us…" I mumbled.

"Kuiii…"

"Be prepared for next time! My even stronger daugthers will crush you into powder!" how? Hoping over us? That'd be funny…

"That almost sounded cool, but he's ultimately pushing his crap onto his kids. That's lame" Neptune said.

"He can be charged for that, you know"

"Will there be a next time? I'm no so kind as to let you go, you see…" Vert summons another spear.

"Kui!"

"Kuiii!" the creatures hops towards us, defending their father.

"What? Don't block my path! Move it, cretins!"

"Ewwy! Don't get so close…!" Plutie hides behind Nepgear.

"My daughters are throwing themselves at you to protect me… But no, you all must flee!" he commanded as he runs away.

"Stop! H-Hey, don't you even _think _about touching there!" the cretins are now hoping all over us. I mean literally. In Vert's case however, one of them is trying to get under her skirt.

"Stop! Get outta my grill!" another is also doing it on Neptune.

"Hey…" I walk over to Neptune's oppressor…

"…Bother someone else…" and briefly "stare" right into its eyes.

"Kuiiii!" it stop bothering Neptune and proceeds to hop towards Plutie.

"Noooo!" Plutie screamed.

"V-Vert, we're helpless…" Nepgear said.

"Ugh, I can see that. We won't give chase, so please get off us!" Vert pleas to the creatures.

"Kui?"

"Kui…"

"KuKuii!" the three run away.

"Whew. They waddled off" Neptune is relieved. I help her stand up.

"Tch. In the end, he escaped" Vert complained.

"I'm sure he'll reapper, but seriously… gross…" I feel the complexity as well, Nepgear.

"Yucky. My whole body feels like a dirty, sticky sponge…"

"Hey. I also have a body wash that perfect for that" another one of my contingency plans.

"Yeah. When we get home, we're gonna bath it up hardcore" Neptune said.

"Joining us, Vert? The body wash is on me" I ask Vert.

"Ahh, the idea excites me. When that day comes, allow me to wash your back, Nepgear" Vert proposed.

"Huh? N-No, I can do that myself…" you're blushing woman.

"No need to hesitate. It will be a good moment for our sisterly bond to strengthen"

"Ugh… Those two are at it again…" Neptune said.

"Wanna ditch those two? Leanbox isn't far from here and we can take a bath a public bath"

"I wanna take a bath…" Plutie said.

"Nah, I want to try out Jared's body wash. Who knows, I might be all masculine after that"

"I wanna try it too!" Plutie repeats.

"Sure…" guess I'll be rowing in double time for the return trip.


	53. Chapter 53

Chapter 53:

"Phew, we finished. But I kinda knew how the plot would proceed once Histy got all vibratey"

"We made it through A-OK…"

"Even though we were getting our nepu's handed to us by vermin…"

The elevator rise towards our room. I stare down the city of Planeptune as the people turn into little dots that move to and fro at their own pace. Like ants in an ant kingdom. And as the elevator rise some more, they disappear. Like a balloon that popped into the distance. It's amazing how depictions of life, can be related to this so perfectly.

"Hm..?"

* * *

_"__Histy, triple up the guards…"_

* * *

"Jared?" I feel a hand held mine.

"Nothing to worry about, Neptune. Just thinking how high this place is" I pet her head with my other hand.

"I just hope things remain peaceful for a little while…" Nepgear said as my ears return to the conversation.

"Who can say? It seemed to me that they were all prepared to bounce back at us immediately" Vert said.

"I'd prefer them to attack again. Next time that creepazoid shows up, I'll snap his neck!" such murderous intents Noire.

"You're both pathetic for letting them go. I took care of one, after all" Blanc boasts.

"Oh, speaking of creepazoids and taking care of stuff, I see Plutie's two buddies are here" belated observation from Neptune is belated.

"Whatever. I'm only here because I was able to clean up faster than I expected" dishonest Noire said.

"…I only had to give a short, direct lecture" Blanc adds.

"But you don't have to come over here every time you wanna chat. You all get lonely easy, huh?" the woman beside me said.

"Neppy, you don't think being with everyone is fun…?"

"That ain't it, champ. Relaxing alone is cool sometimes. I like the peace and quiet, or whatever. Especially when I'm with this buster" she nudges at my side lightly.

"Ow, ow, ow…"

"There's never any _peace_ and quiet when you're around!" Noire retorts.

"In any case, please don't turn into a Snorlax now! We have kids to look after" Nepgear reminds.

"Ooh, nice reference! But you're right. In a way, they're more difficult than the Seven Sages. Right Jared?"

"You would never believe the horror at the beginning…" they were difficult of getting used to. And I have to adjust to their vibe just so they'll be able to listen to me. Hence, why I have to dangle a prize in front of them. I'll fix that part of their growing up, don't worry.

"…You say that, but both of you are smiling…" Blanc said.

"Of course they are. Neptune like to play with them. And Jared was assigned to raise them maturely. They wouldn't be so attached to them, if they weren't" Vert adds.

"What an amazing trick, Neppy! I could never act as big of a baby as you!" watcha say, Plutie?

"I'm having a rubix cube of a time deciphering wheteher that was a compliment or not…"

"Rubix cubes are easy to solve, you know" they're just patterns.

*TING!*

"Well, would you look at that, talking together made time fly" Nepgear's words reminded us that the elevator had just stopped to our floor. The automatic floors opens and we exited the lift. We walk the short hallway towards the living room.

"We're home, Histoire!"

"OOOOOF…Or not…" that was a weird sound.

"Why ever would you make such a silly noise without warning?" Vert asked.

"Well, y'see, P-ko usually greets me with a tummy headbutt, so that reaction is kinda second nature"

"And you usually get knocked out after that"

"Is everyone gone…? Where did they go…?" Plutie asked.

The living room is deserted. There isn't a single sign of life here. The carpet floor has some blocks of toys that they often play. I can't even hear some water running inside the bath. Even checking the balcony, it's as deserted.

"Maybe they're out or something… Hmm… Hm?"

* * *

"_So you all were behind the kidnappings, I see! You can't get away with it now!_"

* * *

"It's better to be safe…" remembering, Abnes' accuse. I overclock my brain and started looking around.

I find nothing out of the ordinary. Rather, it's _too_ ordinary. Allow me to explain, these three kids are always making a mess of things once we left them in their own devices. In this logic, one would thing that those toys on the carpet floor have already ventured into the sink or the in cupboards. These toys are always were centralized in the carpet. I could also think that, they were being mindful, but they're kids so my expectation of that is low. So two scenario are here, it's either their finishing up playing or just started to play. But since they don't stop playing unless its bed time, that only leaves one.

"Hrm..." that could mean that they had something to do and left the premises. But they're kids, so what are they going to do outside? Presumably to do kid's stuff.

"Maybe they really are just out…" haha, and here I am worrying something extreme. I'll just wait outside.

Walking back towards the hallway, as I was about to press the elevator button, I see the shoe rack. I find kid-Iffy, Compa and Peashy their shoes that all of us got for their birthdays. Why would they leave without their shoes on? I thought they already learned that.

"…Hm? A Handkerchief?" there was a piece of handkerchief lying about, maybe those one of the three had one slipped out. But it looks rather wet, a sign that was recently used. I take a sniff at it…

"…Wait… this is…!?" I run back towards the living room.

"I wonder. Can Histoire really look after three kids by herse…! Hey, watch it!"

Not caring about Noire's temper, I scramble towards to my bag that was beside the TV. I quickly dig my hands inside and felt a specific object. I pull out a Beretta 93R, which I recently purchased, and pull the slider. Seeing there's a bullet inside a chamber, I stand and run back towards the elevator.

"H-Hey!" I ignore their screams as I re-enter the elevator. I immediately press the 'G' button not minding if it would break.

"Fucking stupid! Fucking stupid! Fucking stupid! Fucking stupid!"

*BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!*

I punch the elevator door as hard as I can. The numbing pain lightly stings. But it is completely covered up by the heat that's slowly rising from my core. I drew in rough breaths to keep me cool, but my hand is shaking violently, signalling that I probably won't forgive anything.

"Seven Sages…!"

There is no other logical suspect here. They keep us running around like sheep that lost their shepherd. We came back to Planeptune before heading to Leanbox, and the city was still intact. And while we think that everything is going smoothly, they get us like wolf hiding in the bushes. It was a simple plan, although involves kidnapping, but still simple that anyone who is in my disposition have already experienced a thousand times.

"Fuck!" I'm getting real soft for becoming this careless.

*TING!*

As the elevator reached the ground floor. I sprint through the hall full of employees doing their business. Some have noticed my 'eyes' and started screaming in fear. Or maybe because I'm brandishing my gun. I went outside into the plaza and run towards the street.

*SCREEEEEEEEEEECH!*

A bike stops right in front of me with convenient timing. The bike is a black Ducati 1098. A sports bike that is powered by a 90° V-twin cylinder. A 4 valve per cylinder Desmodromic and is liquid cooled. It's has 6 speed gearbox, and noticing the lack of the clutch, it's an automatic transmission.

"Wanna die fool!?" the guy took off his helmet.

"Nice bike…"

"Haa?"

"I said…" I point the gun at the biker…

"Nice bike" …and 'look' right into its eyes.

"Hiiii!" he goes paler than bond paper.

"Get out and leave the keys at the ignition…" he slowly lifts his leg and brings it over to him. He hops out of his beloved bike.

Still pointing the gun at him, I hop over to his bike, and rev up the engine a bit. Checking the gas meter, it seems we have full tank in here. I kick the kickstand and bike give me balance, as I give it speed and race through traffic.

*BRRR!* *BRRR!* *BRRR!*

My phone vibrates on my pocket. I take the call without looking at the caller.

"_Jared, the kiddies…!_"

"I know, Neptune. That's why I went ahead first" well someone's angry. Well, both of us are.

"_Histy said that they're heading towards a path back towards Lowee!_" so Histy's safe. One person less to worry about.

"Back to their base, huh? Typicall…" they're amateurs…

"_Anyway, let's find them and really rake them over the leaves!_" now that's funny.

"Sure" I end the call.

Readying my 'eyes', I twist on the gas, stepping the transmission. I round a corner, beating a red light. I think I heard an enforcer whistling, but my ears have become deaf from the raging wind flowing past me. I over take some measly cars and they honk their horns in anger of my sudden interjection.

But despite all this, question is running through my head.

What kind of message should I give them?


	54. Chapter 54

Chapter 54:

*VROOM!*

"Tch! Can't see them…" I click my tongue in frustration.

There is only one safe path from Planeptune towards Lowee. The path consists walking through a canyon which consists of cliffs and bridges. This particular path is used many times for people who wants to migrate between the said the countries. And since it's been like that, there are no monsters wondering about here. A small gust of wind brushed along. I search frantically with my eyes for any signs of life. I take out my phone…

"Neptune, I'm here"

"_You're already there!? That was lightning!_"

"I have a nice sports bike. In any case, where are you?"

"_We're all running towards there! Can you see the kiddies?_"

"Not yet"

"_Grr! I'm really pissed! Go Jared, make them cry!_"

"Sounds like a plan" I am going to do it.

*BEEP!*

I end the call.

*VROOOOM!*

*VROOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*

I race down the cliff that I was standing on, and jumped down on the path which is the edge of the canyon. I twist on the gas and speed through towards a bridge a few meters away.

*SCREECH!*

*VROOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*

I brake and lean to the left, turning the bike to cross the bridge and head to the other side of the canyon. I turn and twist down the gas, speeding me up as the transmission automatically stepped up. I lift up the front wheel, riding it on the rear wheel, until I get a speed boost.

*VROOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*

Rough winds slams brushes against me as I speed through this canyon. The transmission went up, maxing out to 6 speed. I race through the edge of the canyon not seeing a single sign of life anywhere. Where in the devil are those kids? Did they changed route plans all of a sudden? Highly unlikely since their base is Lowee. But it would also be wise, that what Histy heard was just complete and utter lie throwing us off our rail. I better hope this bike has enough gas as a contingency.

"I'm going to call Neptune again..."

"…"

"Hm?" as I was about to my phone out of my pocket, I hear something strange.

*BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!*

I stop the bike with both breaks and with my free foot planted on the ground. The bike's engine is quiet so it isn't necessary to cut the engine. I listen carefully, while I follow the noise with my eyes. It's really faint, like listening to the wind a few meters away.

"Hrm…" hoping out of the bike, I crouch down and put an ear to the ground. Since sound are just vibrations, it would travel a lot faster in solid objects. I listen carefully…

"…"

"There's definitely life here..." and it's near too. Picking myself up, I hop into the bike once more and speed up until the meter stay on the right side permanently.

It took only 5 minutes before I see a dot in the distance. And it only took another few, before 2 dots appear. As race towards those dots like a fly attracted to light. One of the dots slowly became a figure. A figure of a child. She has creamy hair and has a pink blouse. There is no mistaking that girl…

"Compa!" I twist the gas once more. Hoping for this bike to give me more speed.

I speed through everything. The images on the sides have become warped is now stretched. Compa's figure becomes relatively larger as come nearer. Eventually the other dot at the distance, have also turned into a figure, a figure of a rat. That's perfect, rats do need to be taken 'care' of, right? When I reached them, I jump…

*VROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*

"Chu?"

I jump from my bike. I allow Newton's first law of motion to take over me and land me behind Compa. When I do, I kneel instantly and pull her in as I cover her eyes with my hand. And with my other hand, I quickly pull out my gun and point it to the rodent that's right in front of me.

The rodent is a dark grey mouse. It has red eyes and two white whiskers on each cheek. The coloring from its shoulder to its hands are black. It has small maroon wings on his back. On its chest is a red and yellow broken heart design. It has a thin, black tail that has something similar to a big, black, broken heart in the end. The coloring from its knees to its feet is light red with two stripes on each side. It holds a disc in one of its hands.

"You have 5 seconds before you tell where you've taken the other 2 kids"

"Chu-chu! W-Who are you!?"

"I'm a passerby, rat"

"It's Jar-Jar!" Compa celebrates under me.

"But why are you covering my eyes? I can't see!"

"Sorry. You got to put up with this for now"

"But…"

"I'm here. Okay? So please, close your eyes and don't peek"

"Kaaaay…" I let her snuggle against me as her reward for following.

"Now, tell me where are the other 2 before I start counting…" I nudge the gun a bit.

"Chu? There's no way I'm gonna tell you" oho, playing strong are we?

"5" I nudge the gun once more.

"Chu, chu. No way…"

"4" I pull down the hammer.

"Nope, chu"

"3" I ready my trigger finger.

"…"a bead of sweat falls down.

"2, I have an itchy finger…" last warning rat.

"*Gulp!*"

"1…!" I 'stare' at the rodent murderously as I pull the trigger...!

"Chu! Chu! I'll tell you! I'll tell you!" the moment his eyes met mine he goes pale and prostates himself. I still point the gun at him.

"They went down that road, chu!" he points onwards towards Lowee on this godforsaken canyon.

"Good"

"A-Are you gonna kill me, chu?"

"Of course"

*BANG!*

"Chu…" the rodent goes limp.

He isn't actually dead, he just collapsed from the horror. I put down the gun and retract my 'eyes'. I embrace kid-Compa tightly, petting her back as I do. The little girl also embraced back, with a tinge of humming in her. After we're done with our little embrace, I fix her clothes a bit.

"Is the mouse dead?" she asks innocently.

"No, it just collapsed" I brush some dirt off her skirt.

"There, all clean for now, let's get to that shade of tree over there" I stand up and led her by the hand under the tree.

"But what about Iffy?"

"I'll go ahead. But first…" I take my phone from my pocket and quickly dial Neptune.

"_Jaredy, Jar!_"

"I got Compa"

"_Okay! That's one little kid down! Where are Iffy and P-ko?_"

"Those kidnappers split up, apparently. I want to chase after them, but I can't leave Compa behind" well, I do have a sports bike here. I can cover the gap easily, if I went full speed with it.

"In any case, I'll wait with Compa here until you girls catch up, okay?"

"_Kaay!_"

*BEEP!*

"*Sigh*…" I rub my temples. This whole thing is giving me headache. And keeping cool is also giving me a headache. But if I let my eyes show with a child here, god knows what will happen next. I sit on ground and lean my back on the trunk of the tree.

"Jar-Jar… Iffy is…" Compa thugs on my sleeve.

"I know, Compa. See that bike? If we see the others over the horizon, I'll run for it and chase after Iffy. Kay?"

"…Would she be okay?"

"She is. The girl's got a lot of spite. She'll be doing just fine"

"…But a mean old-witchy took her and she's very scary" a mean old-witchy, huh?

"That 'mean old-witchy' doesn't actually show it. But she has heart"

"…She's like, Noire?"

"Very much so. So I know Iffy's gonna be just fine…" although even with that, I don't think I can still keep my cool. There are some things you can't just forgive. Even if it's a person you respect.

"Okay! Iffy's going to be just fine!" I pet her head.

"Now let's just wait for the others…"


	55. Chapter 55

Chapter 55:

"_Found you!_" Neptune waves at me at the distance.

"Yeah, I see you too" I wave back at her.

"It's Nep-Nep and Ge-Ge!" Compa cheered.

"And the others as well"

We really didn't wait long before the others had arrived. In fact, it just took 5 minutes. But still, 5 minutes can take you really far. I can catch up since they're just walking, but it would be a stretch. As the others, pop up one by one over the horizon. I walk towards the still collapsed mouse and pick him up. I take him under the shade of the tree and snap my fingers near his ear.

*SNAP!* *SNAP!*

"Chu…?" the rat opens his dazed eyes.

"Hey, damn rat"

*SNAP!* *SNAP!*

"Chu?" he looks around for a minute until he sees me 'staring' right back at him.

"Chuuuuuu!" the rat goes pale as he sees it. And I thought rat's doesn't go pale.

"I'm leaving now. Tell the girls what you said to me, got it low life?"

"C-chu! S-s-s-s-sir!"

"Good" I stand up and resume the call.

"Neptune, I'll be going on ahead and stop one of them. Think you can catch up?"

"_Hmhmm! Don't underestimate me buddy! Go get 'em!_"

"Haha…" Neptune has ways to keep me cool.

*BEEP!*

"I'm going to fetch Iffy, Compa. So stay with Neptune and the others okay?"

"Okay!" she nods as I pet her head.

Running towards the laid down Ducatti, such a waste I tell you, I pick it up and quickly check its inner garments. Upon observing, there's nothing worth reporting other than a few scratches here and there. There are no leaks anywhere, gas and oil are all fine, and brakes are good as well. I hop on board and turn the keys on the ignition. The engine starts up, I lean on the bike, and twist the gas accelerating forward.

*VROOOOOOOOOOM!*

Racing through the cliff of the canyon, I found that upfront, at least a few meters away, it's the edge of this cliff here. But there's a bridge that leads to the opposite side, supposedly acting as a detour. But the thing is, it's destroyed for very obvious reasons. And conveniently, there's a rock that acts as a ramp at the edge of the cliff.

"Well, fuck it"

I lift up the front wheel as I twist the gas some more. Winds roughly brush against me as I race towards the rock on 300 km/h. I keep the bike steady as I ride on one wheel during this whole run up. The cliff comes to me, I reach it within a few meters…

*VROOM!*

I take off into the air as I lean my body back, flipping the bike over me. I lean some more, turning this an acrobatic spin, flipping me over the bike as our trajectory hits the highest point of our flight. Taking quick glances, my landing target is quite far. Not that it matters now, since I'm already way up here. I raise the bike under me, putting it in a position of how it was before I jumped.

*SCREECH!*

*SCREECH!*

*VROOOOOOOOOOOM!*

"Hell yeah!"

Upon landing, I instantly put the front wheel down and rebalance myself. Then I rebalanced myself and twist the gas right afterwards.

* * *

"Where the fuck are they?"

I've been riding for 5 minutes now. By now, I could have spotted anyone since they're just walking. But there's none. Absolutely nothing. What the hell? Did Arfoire fly towards Lowee? No way. Iffy would just struggle and that would impede flight. A detour perhaps? Using this path is just straight bare-bones. So what?

"Tch… The canyon…!" I forgot about it.

Moving the bike over at the very edge, I peak down below. There is a single river at middle that flows along the canyon. The banks on the side are all rocky by nature. There are some green flourish here and there, but it isn't much.

I carry on my search. I slow down a bit so I can see and examine something suspicious below clearly. I balance the bike as to not fall down from here. I watch intensely at the river and its side below. Not missing any single thing that I find suspicious.

Then at a distance, I see a small dot. No, two of them. It's two people walking along the side of the river. I speed up a bit, following who those people are. At this distance, no one can see properly. But overclocking my brain reveals that one of them has a pointed hat.

"There!" it's small due to the distance, but I recognize that pointed witch hat from anywhere. I take out my phone.

*BRRRR!* *BRRRR!*

"_Jared, you found them yet?_" Neptune asked.

"Yeah, I did! I'm stopping them, so you better catch up!"

"_We're going full sail ahead!_"

*VROOOOM!*

I instantly speed up, pushing the limits of this Ducatti in off road racing. I steal glances at the witch down below, checking the right distance.

*VROOOOOM!*

I jump. The craziest jump I've ever done. Well, not really. The bike falls in 9.8m/s/s. I point the front of the bike towards the ground. I steal one last glance at the witch. I put all my weight down, force my trajectory directly in front of them.

I fall towards the ground faster and faster. I look around my immediate area to see where I can go from here. The rocky wall of the canyon is the only thing that might keep me from being a pile of broken bones. But at this rate I might not catch those ledges, plus the fact that they might be wet or some other stuff to make me slip a bit.

'_Worse stunt ever…!_'

I let go of the handles and ready myself to jump. I wait for a bit until I'm so near to the ground. I look around some more, hoping to find a much more better option than this. Sadly there isn't one available right now. As I fall to the ground, finding better routes to land nicely, there are several dots on my 5'o clock 70 degrees up. Guess they do catch up quick.

Looking back to my situation, I'm already near enough. I bend my knees and push myself towards the rock wall. I grab onto the edge with one hand, plant a foot and watch as the fireworks happen stopping the witch's tracks.

*BOOOOOOM!*

"What!?"

Huge flames rise. I watch as the smoke rise towards the infinite blue above and flames licking the air. The witch and her kid, who is dragged by the rope tied to her hands stands in shock and awe. I let go of the edge that I'm holding onto and jumped down on the river bank.

"Iffy, I thought I taught you not to go with strangers…"

"It's Jared!" Iffy cheered.

"Tch! They're already here" Arfoire clicked her tongue.

"Alright! We caught up!"

"IF!"

"Iffy…!" from behind them, the girls have undid their transformation mode, except for Plutie of course. Making Arfoire surrounded.

"This may sound typical but…" I pull out my gun and point it straight towards her head.

"Give us back Iffy or else"


	56. Chapter 56

Chapter 56:

"Give us Iffy or else" I point the gun at Arfoire's forehead.

"Yay! You all came for me!" Iffy cheered as she raises her tied up arms up and down.

"Hmph, fine. If you are all here, that means the rat got away" Arfoire said. As if she trusts that rat.

"Iffy! I'm glad you're okay!" Compa cheered as she comes out from behind Nepgear.

"What!? Why is that kid here!?" Arfoire is shocked to see their target back on our side.

"You're idiotic rat gave her to us without a fight" Noire answered.

"He also informed us that you headed in this direction" Vert adds.

"…That damn rat!" Arfoire curses.

"…Kidnapping children while the adults are away… How low the Seven Sages have sunk…" Blanc said.

"I know, it was a pretty terrible plan. I wasn't onboard with it" see? Arfoire has heart.

"Then please return IF to us. If you do, we'll just let you go" Nepgear plea's with an incentive.

"Don't talk down to me! Ugh, this stress is giving me wrinkles. Keep me company a while longer" Arfoire demanded.

"If you manage to defeat me, I'll gladly hand her over!" easy enough.

"Our numbers keep increasing, but you still think you can win? I'm super-duper pissed today!" my pissed fiancée said.

"Don't assume I will always lose to you, girl"

"I don't like to use this form, but today, I think I'll show you my own goddess transformation!" what? That bunny transformation was not all? There were more?

"She must have an ace up her sleeve. Your kidnapping aside, I praise your planning ahead" Vert observed.

"Compa, please go find a safe place to hide!" Nepgear advised.

"O-Okay…" Compa runs along towards some rocks and hid herself between those.

"I hope you're prepared… Once you see my final form... You will meet your doom!"

"Just do it already…" I ain't got all day. Hell, no one has all day for this.

*BOOOOOOOM!*

Red lightning shoots out from the heavens above. I look towards the sky, and see that dark clouds have formed where the white ones was. The blue sky the peaks in between those have turned into red. Thunder roars from within those dark clouds, like a dragon waiting for its prey. I know this feeling, this sensation. It was like all those years ago… when I fought _that_ Arfoire. That same Arfoire that I respect.

It appeared. But it was different than I expected it to be. It's a behemoth of a monster. It's over all form factor is like a Jorugumo; a mythical monster that has its upper body of a human and its lower body of a spider. It has 4 leg enormous legs, having a color scheme of red and purple. It's abdomen big and is probably hard shelled. And right where the spinnerets are located, there is a single hook shape claw facing upwards.

The carapace has giant open mouth that could fit a bus if it chose to swallow it. On top of its mouth, is the upper body, from the waist up, of her _Oryctolagus Cuniclus_. Behind it, is a giant that has a purple main D-pad's near the ends. Attached from behind it, are 4 orange wings like those each connected to the central spine at the middle. Its purple head consists of only one eye and it has 4 majestic arms.

"I see…" the world is cruel indeed.

*ROOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!*

It roars. Like screaming to the world. Like it's screaming that its entire body hurts to no end. Overbearing power leaks from its joint like red smoke. The sky above turns even redder, and the trembling thunder have been beating behind those dark clouds.

_"…It's a fifty-fifty chance that you're going to become one" so it's one or the other huh._

_"I see… " well that's going to be shit. I really don't want to literally turn into a monster._

"A 50-50 chance, huh…" the price of power is too damn high. Even for me…

" ' 'I shall kill you all!' ' "

*ROOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAR!*

It roars once more. Even in this dimension, even in this other truth, she is also a victim of 'the world's' cruelty. I don't know what kind of power she sought through the CPU memory. But I do know, that no one deserves to be turned into something hideous as this. But that 50-50 chance in the CPU memory, it's bothering me for some reason…

"Whoa, ugly monster alert! The old lady turned into a totally wacked-out monster!"

"…That's a pretty junky ace to have up your sleeve"

"I know this form… She's…!" Nepgear seems to have recognized this.

"Wh-What? This is scary…" kid-Iffy, still having her hands tied up, cowers in fear towards a hiding spot.

"Aww, poor Iffy! Okay everyone, it's our turn to transform and kick butt!" Neptune gave the cue.

"Got it!" everyone transformed. At the same time, a sword appears before me, I, of course, catch it before it falls.

" 'Is everyone prepared?' "

"…"

"…Hm?" I feel something bad, my instincts are warning me. I quickly look around for anything. I find nothing but these signals are still warning at me. Maybe it's just a false alarm? No way. They never lie.

" 'Plutia? What're you doing? Hurry up and transform' " looking at the person Noire spoke to, all my questions have been answered…

"…Hehehe. Icky giant bug… Such a gross insect to squish…" this woman has anger issues alright.

" 'Hey. Why're you talking like that?' " Blanc asked.

"Hehehe… Sorry, it's no good. I'm so mad, I can't hold it in" that would be pretty obvious from your voice alone.

" 'What is wrong with her?' " Vert asked.

" 'I… don't know. I've never seen Plutia act like this…' " Nepgear answered.

" 'Get a hold of yourself! This is no time to snap!' " Neptune said.

"I know, I know… I wonder if this nasty woman will accept all these angry feelings…" Plutie transforms.

"A woman's anger is indeed a mess…" I think I heard that line from a bartender I frequent a long time ago.

"It would be a shame if she rolled over and died before I got it all out of me! Hahahahaha!"

"My role of being the murderous one is being stolen here…" I mumble to myself. Well, we can't always have everything right? Got to share the blessings after all.

*ROOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAR!*

" 'I don't think it's good design for our ally to be more frightening than our enemy' " oh really, Blanc? Not really boasting but I'm not.

" 'I think Arfoire's scared too' " Nepgear said.

" 'I've heard the tales of women who laugh hysterically when they're wildly upset, but…' "

"…this is madness indeed" I finish Vert's statement.

" 'What should we do? I mean, we might not be able to control her, but…' " Noire panics.

" 'At least she's a worthwhile ally' " no, she is not Neptune. An ally who can't control their feelings are a weight to any team.

"Let's focus on Arfoire for now. We can deal with the madam later" I said to them.

" 'I can't… I can't contain my fury any longer. May I? I can do anything I want, right?' " the madam is breathing roughly like a rabid dog in heat.

" 'Right. We won't stop you. Strike as hard as you can!' " hm? By the tone of things, Neptune has a plan.

Looking at Neptune for a bit, our eyes met and she gave me eye signals. I look towards kid-Iffy who is crying from her fear, maybe from Arfoire or from Plutie. Ohohoho... I see. That's a good one, I like it, Neptune.

"*hic!* *hic!* Uuh…"

" 'Aww, sweet little Iffy… I'll rescue you without delay!' "

"Well, then Arfoire..." I ready the sword and my gun.

"Let's put you out of that hideous form of yours!"


	57. Chapter 57

Chapter 57:

*BAM!*

Water splashes as if it were an explosion upon slamming its legs down. I recover from my roll and duck under as an arm swings over me. I run towards the monster. I don't attack as I made it through, I pass under it with a different thing in mind.

"Shit!"

A fist came is flying from nowhere and is coming straight towards me. Crap, I don't have time to dodge. I ready the sword in front of me and support the blade with my other hand. I plant my foot to the ground and ready my whole being for it.

*CLASH!*

"Guh!" damn it! That hurts woman!

Her punch sends me flying away from her. My hands feel numb after blocking that. Piercing the earth, I land on the shallow river. Looking up, I see a fireball right at my face.

"Fuck!" I dive to the side. But when I did pass it, there was another one right next to it.

"…!" I put my foot down, stopping me any further. I lean my back straight and squeeze through in between 2 fireballs as they pass.

"Whoo. That's hot…"

Instantly pointing my gun, I point it towards the bunny head and fired without a moment's hesitation.

*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*

*CLANG!* *CLANG!* *CLANG!* *CLANG!*

An arm before my target using it as a shield from the bullets.

" 'YAAAAAH!' " three girls chorused.

*BANG!*

Blanc flies from the right side, she swings her axe towards the monster. Vert comes down from above, the tip of her spear glowing in green. And last from the left side, Noire comes from the ground, her hold of her sword is reversed. I run towards it…

*CLASH!*

" 'Guh!' "

*BAM!*

Blanc was punched by one of the 4 fists. It was a good thing she blocked it but the sheer force made her fly towards the canyon wall. She regained control of her flight and flies towards down. She raises her axe above her head and slams it on the ground.

*BAM!*

The ground light shakes. From where Blanc had it the ground, sections and sections of the ground suddenly raises like there is a giant earthworm that is crawling under us. It directs towards the behemoth, raising the ground of where it's left is. Tipping it off...

" ' 'Gwooooah!' ' " the monster shouts as it losses it's balance.

*CLAP!*

" 'That was close…' "

It clapped its hands above its head, attempting to squash Vert. It was a good thing that she barrel rolls at the last moment. She backs off for a moment, and points throws her spear towards it. It flies towards its target with a green glow on the tip. It hits one of its elbow and exploded.

*BOOOOM!*

" 'Got it…' " she summons another for herself as its arm falls down to the ground with a large bam.

*CLASH!*

" 'It's hard…!' " Noire tried to cut off its leg. But its shell is too hard that her weapon didn't made a dent on it. Noire backs off landing on the ground.

"Nepgear!"

" 'Right!' "

*BANG!*

Catching up to me, we both slide under it and quickly point our weapons above. We pull the trigger…

*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*

Our bullets flies out of our barrel as we continue to slide under it. They reach their target but the hard shell isn't making it any easier on us. Then, it raised its leg and lets it fall, attempting to squash us both. Fuck! Not enough time to recover!

*BANG!*

*BAM!*

In the nick of time, Neptune saved me from my pancake demise. She carries my by the shirt as she flies. Also Nepgear is safe as well.

"Nice plan, but it's not going well…"

" 'Yeah… I thought it was possible…' " Neptune replied.

The plan was simple. It was just me getting Iffy. Not really all that difficult right? But somehow, that thing, whatever you call that, is not making it simple enough. It kinda like she's defending Iffy and we're trying to steal her away. And this plan was somehow communicated to me successfully.

" 'What now?' "

"We can't exactly save the little girl unless we deal with it. Sorry, woman but we have to drop it…"

" '…And I thought it would work as well…' " she sighed. I reach out towards her, and pet her head.

"Nah, I can make it work. I just have to think of something..."

" 'Hahaahahaha!' " what a sinister laugh. Well, isn't this convenient timing?

Awww, you lost an arm… Hehe… Here let me get that for you!' " madam goddess swings her sword-whip. It uses all three of its remaining arms to block her attack.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

" 'HUWAHAHAHAAHHAAHAHA! C'mon! Scream! Scream!' "

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

" ' 'GWoooooooaaaaaaaah!' ' " it steps back, overwhelmed by the series of whips.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

" ' 'Gwoaah!' ' " the monster roared.

*BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!*

Red lightning falls down from the red heaven above. It seems it was trying to hit the madam. But all it does is made her smirk some more and retaliates with an even stronger force.

" 'Wahahahahahaha!' "

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

"Neptune! Noire!" calling out, both of them nod.

*BANG!*

Neptune flies, still carrying me mind you, in the speed of sound towards the monster. Normally, all of my limbs would come flying all over the place since I don't protection on the air wall. But since I'm a passerby, I think my body can hold.

Letting me go, I let inertia take me towards one of its shoulder's. Neptune and Noire are also flying towards the two remaining. Under the whippings of the madam herself, we made our way towards it's shoulders while it's blocking from her whips.

"Yaaah!"

" 'Yaaaaaaaah!' "

*SLICE!*

Feeling the blade cutting through something, fresh blood spew out from where I cut it. The arm slowly falls off as all the other three are. Using the momentum of the swing, I turn to Nepgear who has her weapon ready.

Looking down, I see the bunny transformation part of the monster, above its giant mouth. Readying my sword to my side, I let myself fall beside her. When I do, I jump down and face her allowing me to level myself for a short period of time. I 'look' straight at her eyes.

"Care to honor me with a short dance?"

" 'You…!' " she summons two spears for both of her hands.

"Heh…"

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

Three weapons collide. Sparks fly as with each hit. Our weapon's goes for the kill with each swing.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

I block her attacks as she does with mine. A tornado of deadly swings had erupted between us.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

She thrusts for my head, I block. I swing on in opening, she blocks. Whenever she thrusts or swings low, I use it as a platform to stay afloat and level of her. Not an easy task if you might presume.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* - *CLASH!*

"C'mon…"

Using the last hit of our short dance, I use it to push me away into the air in an arc and taunt her at the same time. I also retraced my 'eyes'.

" 'Yah! Huu!' "

*CLANG!* *CLANG!*

She throws both of her spears at me, I parry them both. And pull out my gun…

*BANG!*

The bullet missed its target. Oh well. Feeling someone pulling me, Neptune hovers down to the ground. As the rest of the girls regrouped.

" '_haa… haa…!_' "

" ' 'Gwoaaaaaaah!' ' " the creature roars and red lighting falls down

*BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!*

"It seems it won't fall like we want it to be…"

" 'What do you suggest then?' " Neptune asked.

"Nothing…"

" 'Haa?' " pointing my finger above, the dumbstruck Neptune have figured out what I meant.

" 'Oh…' "

" 'Huwahahahahahaha! Now you don't have any more arms! I'll give you the liberty of transforming out of the hideous form!' " the madam laugh hysterically.

" ' 'GWoaaaaah!' ' " it roars instead.

" 'Oh I see now… You want me to get you out of that? I don't want to get my hands dirty but I don't care…' " she grips her sword whip tightly.

" 'I'll make it as _painful_ as possible!' " sheesh, I was never this sadistic to my victims. Then again, they were begging for me to kill them.

The madam swings her whip towards the _Oryctolagus Cuniclus_. She tries to defend from it. But instead the sword-whip wrapped around her waist. Wrapping around tightly, Arfoire tries to get it off from her. The madam has the most sinister smile I have seen thus far. So maybe I'll get to see more? Exciting.

" 'Now let me get you out of there…!' "

The madam pulls. She pulls and pulls until her weapon has enough tension to make a sound if plucked. Arfoire tries to fight but with half of her body sticking out, she really can't do much. She used the monstrosity to retreat, but her back is against the wall.

" ' 'Groaaaaah!' ' " the monster raised its leg.

" ' 'Pull some more and I'll kill this girl!' ' " it warns.

"What girl? The girl I have on my arms right now?"

"Jared and Nep are so cool! Nep is like a totally different person and Jared is just too amazing!" also Compa is still hidden somewhere. Don't know where but she's doing a good job at it if I can't find her.

" 'Hehe. I get that a lot' " my wife-to-be giggles.

"As do I" I put Iffy down.

" ' 'You! how!?' ' "

"Easy… I followed through Neptune's plan" I pull Neptune towards me.

" 'There now, don't ignore me while I'm playing with you!' " the madam pulls even harder.

" ' 'Huwaaaaa!' ' "

Bit by bit, Arfoire is being pulled through the waist. She tries to fight it out, but with her back up against the wall, she can't do much. She instead pulls it from her end, but that further makes her pulls out some more. The madam thugs on it suddenly.

" 'Huaa!' "

" 'Hehe… Let's get to the punishing part! I'm tired of waiting!' "

The madam pulls her even stronger. The skin where Arfoire is attached to stretches as it clamps onto the host. She screams on pain, having her lower half attached to something and is being pulled, is somewhat painful. The madam pulls and pulls until her own body is slowly being pulled out.

" 'Huwaaaa!' "

*PLOP!*

" 'Huwahahahahahahahahahaha!' "

" 'Guwaaaa!' "

The moment she was plucked out. The madam swings her around like a disposable toy as she laughs like a hysterical hyena before it kills its prey. The madam swings her around before she slams her down to the rocky, riverside.

The rest of her monster form falls down. Lifeless since its host is gone. The sky above slowly turns into blue and the angry weather slowly disappears with it. The warm sun had given out a radiant sunshine. Shining the leftovers of the battle.

"*Sigh*… Gawd it's over…"

" 'Yeah…' "

" 'Hmph. For being so gigantic and ugly, you were such a pushover' " Noire said.

" 'The ugly are always stamped out by the beautiful. It is the way of the world' " isn't that a beautiful way of saying "the weak dies and the strong survives", Vert.

" 'IF is unharmed. That's good' " Nepgear said.

"I guess we can call this a…!"

" ' 'Hooo…' ' "

"Hm…!?"

*CLASH!*

" 'Jared!' "

Upon looking when the monster transformation leaving a sigh. I was attacked by a shadow of sorts. It has a shape of man with much of the same height as me. Other than that, it is only nothing but a shadow of someone. It attacks me with an arm that is shaped as a sword.

*CLASH!*

"Who are you?!" that last hit tries to behead me.

"…"

Translation: Hehe…

"What!?"

I parry the weapon by drawing the sword in a circular fashion. It stagger forward losing its balance. I use that to pull out my Berreta 93R and directly points it on the shadows head.

"…!?"

Translation: Who the hell are you!?

"…"

Translation: Hehe…

A small laugh escaped from the shadow. A small wind blew. I see a smile form from the shadow. It does not look like one. It looks more like it someone just cut a black art paper, creating a hole and forming it into a smile. A smile that is so null of anything, that it reminds me of 'him'.

"…" I 'stare' at it.

Translation: I will kill you if you touch these girls…

*BANG!*


	58. Chapter 58

Chapter 58:

" 'What was that?' " my wife-to-be asked.

"I don't know…" I honestly answer as a small breeze flies off. The black void shaped man disappeared with it. And it also left me with a series of questions.

" 'At least no one got hurt from it…' " Nepgear said.

" 'Oh yes, that's just wonderful. She didn't harm a defenseless child. I'm so pleased' " okay, that cold sadistic tone of the madam just killed the mood for me. And I was about to go into questioning mode too.

"U-Um… Plutia…?" look even kid-Iffy is feeling scared.

" 'Hmhmhmmm. Wait a bit longer. I still need to take care of a certain parasite…' "

"No, this doesn't end here. Next time, I'll definitely…" Arfoire struggles to crawl her way out of here.

" 'I'll stop you from shooting off your line prematurely. You don't think you can leave now, do you?' " the air got a bit colder.

"Wh-What?" she stopped by how cold everything is.

" 'You raised a hand against my dear treasure. You cannot leave until you accept all of my boiling rage' " talk about forcing someone to eat their vegetables. The madam walks slowly to her with an ordinary whip with her.

"Wait. Just hang on, okay?"

" 'No. I'm tired of waiting' " patience is a virtue madam.

"Wah! Waaaaah!"

"Hey c'mon…! Let's go, close your eyes, okay?" I carry kid-Iffy away. I don't think she can close her eyes since she is terrified. You can still shut out scary things that you can tolerate a bit, but if it is something beyond you, you're almost paralyzed. We both hide behind a rock.

" 'Hah! Take it all, you bitch!' " I can hear the whip cracking in the background.

*CRACK!* *CRACK!*

"Gah! You… You would really beat someone after they've succumbed!?"

" 'Dogs bark! They do not speak! Ah-hahahahahahahaha…' "

*CRACK!* *CRACK!*

"Gah! Ack…!"

"W-Waaaah!" see? My explanation earlier is now proven.

" 'Um, Plutie… Children are watching, so…' " Neptune tries to stop her.

" 'You. Go stop her' " Blanc said.

" 'Who, me!? N-No way, that's impossible!' " it seems Nepgear was who Blanc asked.

Peeking through the corner. The madam laughs as she whips her prey into near death. Arfoire screams like a rabbit being preyed upon by a lion. Geez, this is way over the top. Says the hypocrite me. I call the attention to the rest of the girls.

"Hey... wanna chill here while we wait for them to stop?" they all nodded and proceeded to walk towards our hiding spot.

" 'Ahahaha… Hahahaha!' " the madam laughs in amusement.

*CRACK!* *CRACK!*

"Ahh! Stop! S-Stop!"

" 'It's not enough! More, more! That was merely the appetizer!' "

*CRACK!* *CRACK!*

" 'She's getting her comeuppance, but I can sympathize with her for some reason' " Noire said as she enters our hiding spot.

" 'True, but it would be fool's errand to try and interfere' " Vert said.

"No… No… No…" kid-Iffy stutters in fear. All I can do for her is rub her back and offer her some comfort.

* * *

The punishment goes on...

" 'Haahahahahahahahahahahahaha!' "

*CRACK!* *CRACK!*

"S-stop… I'm begging you…!"

…for at least 30 minutes or so.

* * *

" 'Ahhhh. Much better' "

"Whoa!"

The madam appears out of nowhere in our hiding spot feeling refreshed as if she was enlightened by the heavens above. We all peak out and see the disaster that had unfolded. Arfoire is just… um… there. Yeah, like a soulless creature that walks on the surface of the earth. Not a zombie per se, but close. Also she has bruises and blood all over and around her.

"Ugh…*cough* *hack*" see? A soulless creature indeed.

" 'She's finally through. I admit, I had to block my ears for some of that' "

" 'To use such a merciless force while never dealing a fatal blow… Such precise skill…' " Neptune commented.

"It's easier than you think" I'm not kidding on that one.

" 'Okay, my darling little Iffy… I'm sorry for the wait' " the madam inched closer to kid Iffy, who I still am carrying her. And in fear, she turned to the madam.

"N-No!"

"Um… Plutie, that's a bad idea right now…" I tell her. If I do anything more, gawd knows what she'd do to me. Got to protect my chastity after all.

" 'That was scary, wasn't it? It's okay, I made it all better. I taught the bad lady a lesson' " the madam extends her arms as if urging her to

"B-…*hic* W-…" Iffy squeezes her grip on me.

" 'What's wrong? Why aren't you speaking? Say that I'm cool, exactly like you did for Neppy' "

"Uuugh… Uuuggh…" here comes the waterfalls…

" 'Hurry it up, Iffy. Say how great I am' " she closes in on kid-Iffy. *Sigh*, I wish I brought an umbrella.

"W-W-Waaaaaaah! WAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" and here it is…

"There, there…. C'mon…" I rub her back as she wails.

" 'What? Why… is she crying?' " the madam is shocked.

" 'WAH! WAH! WAH!' "

"C'mon, now…"

" 'I sympathize with her so much it hurts' " Vert sympathized.

" 'Forcing a child to watch that…' " Noire said. Well, technically she heard half of it, but seeing Plutie's madam mode and feeling her under presence is too much for a child.

" 'Plutie. You went too far' " Neptune adds.

" 'Hmm? What? I only wanted to hear Iffy praise me as well' "

"You could have just asked first before you did all that…" I can't exactly keep my silence here, can I?

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

"Oh great she peed…" it's a good thing I pulled her away in the nick of time or it would very, very tragic.

Putting her down, I crouch down instantly and pulled down her shorts along with her undies. It's wet with urine and smells like one too. And her little flower is still dripping off yellow urine. Still crying, I make sure to get those off and let Nepgear take care of her for a moment.

" 'Please pull yourself together, IF!' " that's not exactly helping.

I carry her shorts and panties and proceeded to wash them in the river. I can use her oversized jacket to cover her lower part, but I have to carry her. After washing and rinsing them thoroughly, I also quick wash my handkerchief. I put the shorts and panties on a clean rock to let it bathe I onto the sun. I then crouched down once more and wipe her legs and her small flower.

" 'She will live with this trauma her entire life' "

"Indeed she will, Neptune…"

* * *

"Waaaah… *hic!* *hic!*"

"Why is Iffy crying?" kid-Compa innocently asked. She was hiding right near where the leftovers of the monstrosity transformation is. And it's a good thing she didn't heard nor see any of what transpired afterwards.

After a few more moments, Iffy just clings to me as she sniffles here and there. And having no shorts whatsoever, her oversized jacket is what covers her lower part right now.

"Well, Plutia kind off…" Nepgears fades off her answer.

"Uguuuuh…" a depressed Plutie is depressed.

"…We can't go into detail, but try to cheer her up" Blanc said.

"I don't get it…"

"Compa, let me borrow your bag for a moment"

"Okay…" taking her small bag. I fold Iffy's shorts and panties and tuck them inside.

"Here, when we get home put it in the laundry, okay?" she nods as she takes her bag.

"Well, let's give Iffy a little space and deal with our other problem child or whatever…" Neptune said.

"Goth granny, we couldn't ask ya earlier thanks to Plutie, but where's P-ko? What's your plan?" she interrogated the victim.

"Gah? Heh… hehehehe…" the soulless Arfoire answered hollowly.

"She's in no condition to cooperate in an interrogation" Vert reminds her.

"But she's the one who brought them out here, so she must be holding her captive nearby" Noire said.

"Wrong wrong wrong!" kid-Compa said.

"Eh? What's wrong wrong wrong?" Neptune asked.

"This lady didn't take Pea-Pea! It was some other old lady!"

"Eh? Eeeeeeh!?"

"Crap… And I don't have a bike to chase after them as well…" taking P-ko is a bad move since has some strength with her that would even put an elephant to shame. That 'old lady' would be having a hard getting to Lowee if her captive is being uncontrollable. And I don't count on them using choloform effectively on her since she can just fight them off. But all of that doesn't put me to ease one bit.

"C'mon girls we got some running to do. Neptune, carry Compa"

"Aye, aye sir!" kid-Compa approached her and allowed herself to be carried by my wife-to-be. Hm? Somehow she looks like a mother.

"Let's go chase after them!" Nepgear initiated and everyone followed suit.

But before I took a run, I gave one last look at what happened after the battle earlier. Question's beging to flood into my head as I stare at the monstrosity transformation left overs. What was that shadow? Why can it speak _that_? Is it 'him'? That would be impossible. I know I failed to kill 'him' permanently. But is it really possible? That's just insane. But in my case? Is it possible that it happened to 'him' too?

"I'll have to ask Histy…" I concluded under my breath.

"Jared…" I feel a hand tugging my own.

"Hm?" I don't look, I know who.

"You look angry right now… " she whispered to me.

"Sorry…" I cover my face with a hand.

"…What did I look like?" I ask nervously.

"Just angry, for some reason"

"…I see" at least I didn't unconsciously use my 'eyes'. Wiping my face with a hand, I leave another sigh and slapped myself lightly to bring back to the present.

"C'mon" I smile to her, telling her that I'm alright for now.

"Yeah" with a smile back from her, we regrouped to the rest of the cast as we find one last child.


	59. Chapter 59

Chapter 59:

"_…__haa… haa…_"

It's deep at night. The stars above twinkle above me as if they were cheering me on. I've been running for quite a while now. I know getting to Lowee does take time, but one would think by now they're already there. But even then, I continue to run with an open call from a phone on hand.

"_Jared…_"

"C'mon Neptune…_haa… _I promise I'll bring P-ko home, okay…"

"_But…_" I know how Neptune can get really worried.

"…I know, you're worried. That's why I kept the line open so we can talk, have you eaten dinner yet?"

"_Not yet. We're still waiting for you…_"

"Eat. The flight home was long, I know. There isn't all that much to do on your end…"

I have to let the girls fly back to Planeptune. It was already twilight then, and since we had no dice, they need some rest. Of course they rejected the idea, but after a few calm talk they agreed. And I've been running since then. I think I've already ran 18 kilometers since.

"_Okay...I'll keep the line open…_"

"Yeah…"

"..._haa… haa…_"

Holding on to the phone, I continue to jog along the canyon's edge. I peak over from time to time checking if there's anyone down there by the river. I do want to take a sprint, but haste makes waste. The night looms on, ignorant of the struggles of its tenants under its majestic roof.

"It's a moonless night…" whether or not it is. Under the sea of the universe, when a star dies, its light will move on in the infinity and silent void of space. As if running away, looking for meaning in its existence. Like it was treasure.

I run and search, keeping myself grounded on what I need to do. Maybe I'll just leave the philosophical idea for next time. I'll probably miss our problem child if I don't. So checking my feet, I keep it moving. And sharpening my eyes, I keep it looking. As if looking for a treasure that I have already found.

* * *

"_haa… haa… _It's already 9… _haa… haa…_" I check my phone for a bit and continued to run. I've lost track of how much I've ran now.

"_Jared, you okay?_" Neptune asked.

"I'm losing weight. Of course, I am" I say with a bit of joke in my tone.

"_You still can't find her?_"

"Not yet, I've been looking all over, and double checking anything that resembles a person"

"_I see… I hope P-ko's okay…_"

"She's fine, Neptune. Not to sound anything in particular. They won't hurt her since P-ko is their main chip against us"

"…"

"But before any of that happens, I'll find her first. What off the rest?"

"_They're having a snack and drinking some hot fudge…_" all of them are too worried to sleep eh? And I think I can still hear someone crying in the background.

"How about you?"

"_I want to see you and P-ko…_"

"I see…" Neptune can be so different sometimes.

"I'll keep you company, so talk if you want…" I put the call on loud speakers.

"_Jared_…"

"Yeah?... _haa, haa…_"

"_Nothing…_" she is _really _different when she worries. It isn't like the time when she got her memories back. It was more on the time when she worried about me when I wasn't in her radar. She would still worry a little when she doesn't see me. Whether or not, I told her of where I would go. I got a worry wart of a girlfriend.

"Don't worry…"

"_Because Jared is on the case, right?_"

"Yeah…"

"_I'll still worry…Because I love you…_"

"I know, you will. And I love you as well"

"_Ah…_"

"Hm?"

"_Nothing… I feel really giddy inside_" a change in tone.

"Butterflies in your stomach?"

"_Ehe… probably_"

"Probably... huh?" I think I hear something.

"_What is it?"_

"huu…"

"I hear something…" a faint huff of air.

"_Is it P-ko?_"

"Dunno just yet"

I walk slowly, carefully hearing the sound of a faint exhale. Not wanting to know that I'm here, I seal down my presence, like how I would stalk a dear. I follow its rhythm closely, trying to cancel out which is source and which is sound that is bouncing about. I find an intriguing tree. I walk over to it and which step the sound drew louder. A small tailwind guides me, pushing me as if it knows.

And as I drew closer, a form of a human being appears under the said tree. It was small; a child. And when the wind picks up a bit, and the stars twinkle their delight. That form turned into someone that we've have all been looking and worried for.

"Silly girl, and I told her not to sleep on the ground" you'll get a cold y'know.

"_Jared?_"

"We're coming home…"

* * *

"We're home…H-Hey!" the moment the elevator door opened, P-ko just ran for it.

"Neptuna!"

"Bwooooah!?" hearing that dreadful sound, I run towards the living room and see Neptune is on the floor with her plexus headbutted.

"I don't know how I feel about this…" I facepalm.

"Huh? What's this ripple effect going through my stomach that feels mostly like a headbutt!?" because it is a headbutt.

"Hehehe! I'm home!" and now the kid steals my line? Who's the ass that wrote the script? I'm having fewer and fewer lines here.

"Wait! P-ko!?"

"Eeeeeeh!? But how…?" with everyone having gathered from the commotion, Plutie is shocked as well.

"I found her sleeping under a tree. And she seems fine by the looks of it" who wouldn't think she's fine when she's still energetic.

"Oh, really…? That's nice…"

"Welcome home, Pea-Pea!" Compa greeted.

"Waaaah!" and Iffy is still crying? Such a trauma…

"C'mon you cry baby… wipe those tears away…" I sit on the floor and pat her head.

"Huh? Why's Iffy crying? She's making a stupid face!" I'll let that one slide, P-ko…

"It's not stupid, you tiny bully! Where did you go, all by your lonesome self?" and Neptune didn't let that one slide.

"I wasn't alone. Some weird old lady walked me all around"

"You shouldn't just agree to walk around with strangers" Nepgear tells P-ko.

"But she promised me candy! When she didn't give me any, I left and ran away!"

"Even if so. Don't follow them" now I tell P-ko.

"The woman is probably a member of the Seven Sages" no shit, Noire.

"…To make off with a kid like that is very much something the Seven Sages would do" Blanc said.

"Quite so. Although I feel this was a little bit different…" Vert adds. Which does begs the question? If I were the kidnapper, why would I let my hostage run away like that?

"Who cares about that! Everyone's home, so it's fine!" Plutie with tears on the corners of her eyes. Hugs all three of the kids tightly.

"Yikes! Plutie, don't squeeze me so tightly… it hurts…!"

"It huuuuurts!"

"Aaaaaaah! Ahhhhhhh!" Iffy is just absolutely terrified.

"Hehehe… I'll neeeeever let you go…"

"Um, it might be wise to at least let go of IF" Nepgear said.

"Agreed" her brain will probably block this day and put it somewhere deep.

"Nope! We're gonna hang out aaaaaall night together!"

"Sounds tubular. That's 7 people, including Nep Jr. Seven, eight, lay them straight!" Neptune said.

"*Sigh*… I'm tired…" it's been a long day, really.

I silently slip past the festivities happening here and enter the balcony. The circular balcony isn't something grand, but it does provide adequate space to be a playground. A cool night breeze passes along and Planeptune's lights are somewhat on.

"Hrm… The stars aren't that out… Damn you light pollution" I blame society's advancement of science.

"Maybe I should plan another blackout of sorts and make it a yearly thing. That'd be nice…" a sinister plan. And people might like that. Might.

*THUD!*

"Hm?" looking, Neptune is about to be unrolling a futon. A big one as well.

"Haa… rolley~ rolley~" she unrolls it.

"What? Sleeping here?"

"I thought it would be nice"

"Really, now? We're going to get a cold of we sleep here though"

"But we can't exactly sleep in that chaos…" she points behind her. There's a war going on which girl, mainly Blanc and Noire, is to be sleeping beside Plutie.

"Touché"

Slipping under the futon, Neptune snuggles up without wasting a second. Her warm body slowly penetrates mine, resonating far more than the cold night. She giggles a bit, as we both reach for each other's warmth in our hands.

"We haven't been doing much flirting…" she said.

"We've been too busy…"

"I know…"

"A little jealous I see…"

"I was caught, ehe…" a small breeze blew.

"Brr~~! It's cold~~!" I guess a hand and snuggling up to me isn't enough.

"Here…" pulling her in by the waist I close in the distance between us and let all her body stick to mine. We're so close to each other that our faces drew into one another naturally.

"Mn… mfh…" I taste her fictile sweet lips.

"Nm…*Shlrp!*… *Slurp!* *Smack"

She opens her mouth, letting our tongues find each other and wrapping them around.

"*KIss*… *Smack*…mm… mmh!"

"Mmm! Haa…*Slurp* *Smack*…"

It's been a while since our last kiss. And as expected, Netpune's more aggressive.

"*Slrrp*… mn, haa… *Smack* *Slurrp*…tch…"

"Haa… *Smack*… mm… *Slurp*…mm…"

"Mn… *Smack*… *Kiss*….Nm…"

"*Kiss* *Smack*…Haa…" we both release. Tongue's still sticking out and a small bridge of saliva between us. Looking at her now, her face is flushed.

"Too tired to go even further?"

"Yeah… Sorry for that..."

"Haha, I'm tired as well… Nothing much we can do…" I reassure her.

"So as replacement…" I pull her close to me, our forehead next to each other. I hug the rest of her body to mine.

"…good enough?"

"Yeah… good night Jared…"

"Good night, Neptune"

"Love you"

"Love you as well…"

After exchanging another goodnight kiss, we let our strength leave us and slowly fall under our own slumber. And with the warmth from each other, the cold night isn't all that cold anymore.


	60. Chapter 60

Chapter 60:

The first note is always the loudest. How quickly each feeling starts to fade as you adjust your expectations, and protect yourself by gradually tuning out the world. Sometimes you reach a point when you can't feel anything at all, just a ringing in your ears. Until like Beethoven, you find yourself pounding the keys of your life to feel anything at all. Trying to make the ground thunder below your feet.

It makes you wish you could look around with fresh eyes, and feel things just as powerfully as you did when you felt them for the first time. Before expectations; before memory; before words.

Of course eventually it all starts to fade again. Until like Beethoven, you look up from the keys, and have to ask yourself, 'Ist es nicht schön'.

Is it not beautiful?

"And so we're going to the beach!" Neptune announced.

A few more weeks have passed since the kidnapping incident. So far nothing much have happened since. Apart from a few monster hunting, nothing is of anything major. Neptune and I are playing with the kids. Of course kids are still doing what kids are supposed to do, play. Blanc and Noire are still playing their Plutie tug-of war. And lastly, Vert is trying to steal Nepgear from her actual sister. Oh yeah, kid-Iffy is now completely obedient, due to her trauma, to Plutie.

So right now, everyone was called to a 'meeting' by my wife-to-be. And by 'meeting' she meant our bleach plans for this season of spring.

"You called all of out here just so you would tell us that?" Noire complained.

"We're all going to the beeeeeach!" Plutie repeats the announcement.

"…But we're in the middle of spring" Blanc asked.

"Can I ask where did this brought on? (-_-)ゞ゛"

"Well…" Neptune starts to think of an answer. She looks at me… oh no you're not!

"Hrm… Ah! So I can have se—MGmMGh!" I cover her mouth.

"You really got to stop doing that!" geez woman, self-restraint please.

"Mmgmg! Ampf!"

"Ow! Dammit! Don't bite!" she bites down hard.

"Mmrmgmmgh!"

Translation: It's mean to cover my mouth, bully!

"I think it would be your fault that I have to-! OW!" she's like a rabid dog at this point.

"Mmgmmgmgmgh!"

Translation: Aren't you going to let go now!? Mgmgh!

"Ow! Ow! I'll let go!" it's surprising how I can understand her.

"Fuwaaah! Meanie…"

"Right, right…" the bite mark on my hand is going to stay a while.

"So… um… the reason, Sis? " Nepgear asked.

"Ahem" Neptune coughs.

"Everyday is so boring!" she exclaims as if it was a revelation.

"…Says the girl who's been playing with the kids all day, everyday" Blanc said.

"Guh!"

"And someone who gets to play with Plutie as well" Noire adds.

"Gah!"

"Plus she has a husband-to-be to boot. Really isn't she satisfied?"

"Guah!" after Vert adds her finishing move, Neptune falls down defeated.

"…Eeeh? So Neppy's greedy?" Plutie concludes.

"In any case! We have to go to the beach! Who's excited!?" Neptune have regained her strength.

"Yay! The beach!" the kids all happily cheered.

"*Sigh*… I guess it can't be helped. So when are we going to go?" Noire asked.

"After three days!"

* * *

"And three days later…"

"What the hell is with that time skip? We could have used that for something meaningful"

"Nah, if we do. The readers are going to be bored"

"Fine…Another question, why did we travel at night?" the sea are glittering from the reflection of the night ceiling.

"So if we wake up, we can say to ourselves: 'What!? I'm at the beach!' or something"

"Fair enough…" I give up.

We have already arrive to where we would stay for the time we're going to be on the beach. Most of us was going to change on our quick remove clothes. But Neptune suddenly planned for a night trip, which was explained earlier, resulting into us wearing our normal clothes for now.

So in any case, the place we're at is a simple two story wooden logged home, with a balcony at the front. And by the looks of it, the guys who built this didn't put a single layer of paint on it. It's like they just put cut down a tree, cut it to the shape they want, and stack them together with no effort to put even a top coat on to protect itself from the elements.

"Ah, you're here" a lady walks out of the front door. I drop the cooler and approached her.

"And here are the keys, how long are you guys going to stay here?" I receive the keys.

"About 3 days… I think?"

"You think?" she cocks her head in question.

"My fiancée is running the whole show here. Even I don't know what's in the program"

"I see. Must have been rough"

"It really is"

"Well, take good care of this place. I've set everything up for you guys, you can find most of the things you need in all the right places" she pats my shoulder.

"I'm off!" the owner lady left.

"Let's get inside…" I pick up the cooler and after letting the girls inside first, being a gentleman and all here haha, I admire the insides of this rest house that we rented.

The living area is spacious. Spacious enough that you could have your very own small night club here. On the left side are 3 wooden sofa's surrounding a woolen carpet and facing those objects, is a fireplace already lit on the wall. On right is a dining table big enough for all of us, I mean we're 10 people here, not including Histy here since she can eat on the table itself.

"Wooah! This fire is warm!"

"Oh, lord of flames come to me, oh, lord flames come to me! C'mon Peashy, join me!"

"Okay! num, nummm, numm, nummm…"

"Hey you three, don't get too close to the fire alright? You'll lose an eyebrow if you do" I said to them.

"'Kaaay!" they chorused.

"Hey Jared" Nepgear walked up to me.

"Yeah?"

"Have you seen my bag?"

"I thought it was on your back?"

"No, there was this sports bag that I carried" now that she mentions it…

"Nope. Maybe someone put it upstairs. I was the last person to get in and I didn't see anything outside"

"Okay…"

So moving on into our tour of the place. If we walk pass the two that I've mentioned, there's a staircase to right heading to the second floor, after the dining area. And on the farthest left, there is, you guessed it, a kitchen, so I can work my magic again. Now that I think of it I've been doing all he cooking since I got here…

"Hrm… Oh well, at least I'm using everything I've learned…" nothing is more tearful than his student practicing what he learned. So poetic…

Putting the cooler down, I open up the fridge, and start to one by one put transfer the cooler's contents into the fridge. Mostly all of them are just some packs of juice. There's also some coke and cooled water bottles here.

"Woah, it seems we have a hot spring here…"

"Hm? We do?" pass the stairs, located at the very far right side, is a sliding door. There stands Vert admiring what's inside.

"Take a look…" I prompt myself to take a peak.

"Whoo… I didn't saw this while I was reviewing this place…"

So the very backyard of this home was a hot spring. Is a big well conserved natural hotspring. There are some natural plants growing from the side, surrounding the hot water. There are also some showers and some buckets here to use.

"Quite a bath…"

"I guess we'll have smoother skin after this…"

"On top of being brown?"

"That's why I bought a women's ultimate defense" a sinister smile from Vert.

"And that would be…" don't tell me it's…

"A sun block" called it.

"Ultimate defense indeed…" it would help, after a certain amount of dips into the sea water.

"Let's get upstairs so I can put down this bag behind me"

Heading upstairs, I was met with a small recreational room. It houses a small couch and a small round table beside it. There's also a corridor by the side which gives access to our rooms. It also housed 6 other girls. That includes the small fairy that is sitting on an open book.

"Ah, Jared" Nepgear approached me once again.

"Found your bag?"

"I can't seem to find it anywhere"

"I took the liberty of getting the bag for you" Vert said from behind me.

"Really where is it?"

"I have it my room. Isn't a little sister's job to sleep with her big sis?"

"W-Well I'm suppose that's true but…"

"Now, let's get some sleeping done" Vert pulls her by the hand and drags her into one of the rooms.

"Wa-wait Vert!" I kinda wonder what they would be doing. But it's a girl's business better not pry.

"And off they went now…" Neptune said as if she knew it would happen.

"You seem not to care"

"Don't misunderstand me mister, I'm just bidding my time and let her enjoy my sister more"

"I see…"

"Then when she drops her guard, I'll snatch Nepgear away from her!"

"I wonder if it's actually okay for Nepgear to return to her sister (-_-)"

"I have the same question as well…"

"Neppy, Neppy" Plutie thugs on Neptune's hand.

"Hrr?"

"Let's get to our room now!"

"Sorry my best budd Plutie, I'll be with Jared tonight!"

"Eh? So you won't be sleeping with me?"

"Well, we haven't really been doing much couply stuff lately so…"

"Okay! Noirey let's sleep together!" she turns to Noire.

"Guh…! Ah N-No way!" the cruelty of being dishonest.

"Aww…"

"…I can take you in, if you want…"

"Really? Okay! I'll be sleeping with Blanny!" Plutie beamed.

"Hehe" and Blanc smirked.

"Guh!" the cruelties of dishonesty. Taking their bags, the two, hand in hand, head towards their room of choice. Noire just stands their feeling frustrated for herself.

"You know… you could just, head inside with them…" I tell her.

"Th-there's no way I can just do that!?" but you seriously want to be with Plutie right?

"I-I'll just stay here" she crossed her arms.

"Uwaah… When Noire's this stubborn, not even my pudding's could sway her" as if that would work.

"I'll be calling the children downstairs (｀・ω・´)" Histy said as she floats down to the first floor.

"C'mon Jared, let's get inside!" with excitement, Neptune picks up her bag and pulls me in.

"Hey don't just pull me woman!" you'll seriously dislocate my shoulder if you do.


	61. Chapter 61

Chapter 61:

"Mm… *Kiss* Mm… mhu…! Ja…red… *Smack!* *Schmack!* *Kiss*… nn… ha… ahuu…"

The moment we're inside, Neptune just pulls on me and wrapped her lips to mine. After considering a bit, I drop my bag behind me, and kiss her back. Using the door behind her for support.

The taste of Neptune's lips while I kiss her were hot and sweet. I push my tongue in, enjoying every bit of this.

"Nyu, nn… *Slurp!* Smack!* *Smack!* Nn… Huu, huu… nn, *Kiss!*… *Slrrp!* Nn, nn…"

Our tongues trade positions several times, twisting around each other like the tails of some animal.

I crawl my hand towards her breast. I don't hold back for another moment, and massaged them right away.

"Huuun…! Uuu, nn! Nha… Jareeed…*Smack!* *Slurp!* Nn…!"

Moaning she kisses me again, not wanting to let me go for even a moment.

One of her legs wrapped around mine as we hold each other. My knee ends up between her legs, where it can feel something hot under her skirt.

"Nn…*Slrrp!* *Slrp!* Nn…! *Kiss**Smack*…*Smack* *Slrrrrp!*… mn!"

She's getting turned on now, evidence of her knee rubbing against crotch. I also rub my knee on crotch as well.

"Mmm…! Hu…!"

She shivers with my tongue still in her mouth. And with her liquids pouring out of her like a faucet, it makes a sticky thread between her crotch and my knee.

"Nn! Nn! *Smack!* Nn…! Ha…! Ah! Jareeed… Jareed…"

"Really now, so this was your plan all along?"

"We haven't done any couply stuff you know"

"Still, though, you could've have asked for another date…"

"No way, then anyone would have known…" doesn't everyone know already?

"In any case, though let's continue, I'd imagine this isn't enough for you"

"Mhm…nn, *kiss*… nnn, Nepu, *Smack* Nn…"

"*Kiss* Nn…! Nna… mn! *Smack!* *Kiss!* Nn… *Slurp!* *Slurp!* *Kiss*… *Smack!* *Smack!*…Nn!"

I continue my rubbing against Neptune's crotch, not worrying about the stain on my pants. I start moving my hand to a certain button on her mini-hoddie from her chest.

Successfully unbuttoning it, I pull down her dress' front zipper exposing her bare small breasts. She really has to start wearing a bra.

"Huuun…! Nn! Mm! *Smack!* … hau, nn!... nn, *Smack!**Kiss!* *Smack!* *Kiss!*…"

"Nnnnu…*kiss* Nn…!"

I squeeze with whatever I can. Small and yet perky enough to make it fit into palm. I knead it somewhat roughly, matching Neptune's excited heartbeat.

"*Schlack!* *Smack!* Nnn…! Jareeed… Nn! Ha!... *smack!* *Smack!* Nn…! Jared… nn, *Kiss*"

"Nhuhuhu… *Smack!* *Smack!*…Jared… mm…"

"*Smack!* *Smack!*…ha…! You're so hard right now… *Smack!* *Slrrp!* Mnnnu…"

Neptune reaches down to my crotch, slowly rubbing it through my pants.

Looking at her now, her nipples are stiff and erect as if it's trying to convey a message to me.

"Here…" catching Neptune from her legs, I gently lift her up, using the door as support. Her legs cling to my waist for dear life. Her breast are right in front of me, and without much ado, I suck on them.

"Ha, Jared! Ahm nnhaa…!"

I suck on her tips and the areolas, and lick all around them.

"Aau, Neppuuu…! Ha, ha, ha… Ah…! Jared…! Ah! Nepu, that's… too much… uuunnnn…!"

Neptune clings to me, her neck bending back as she shivers from the stimulus.

"Fuwaaa…! Ah, nhu…! Jared, ha, yaaann…! Nepuu, haa, haa, haa…"

I pull her nipples with my lips. I can't actually stretch it much so I cling to it and pull it in different directions.

"Haa, ah… huu, uu, nn…! Aauuun, Jared, Jareed… you're sucking them too much…!"

She shakes her head and writhes around. I lick all over her breasts, slowly covering them in my saliva.

"Jared…" her voice is really begging me to do more.

With her crotch right against my stomach, I easily reach down with my other hand. It's so wet, that it even stained my clothes. Turning my index finger into a hook, I yank the cloth that covers her entrance to the side. It even secretes more fluid out of her, staining my clothes even more.

"Geez, you should really fix this. I'm kinda drenched, right now"

"Jareed…" she's not listening to me.

With her begging voice pushing me, I unzip my pants under her, and reveal my manhood.

"Here I come…"

I slowly drop her down. I carefully point my penis towards her entrance as I do so. With the tip touching her crevice, I push up as I drop her down, prying open her soft, squishy flesh.

"Neeffuuwaah…! So deep…!"

Her whole body is narrowing and tightening around me, pressing soft flesh against me. She's seriously excited about this.

Covered from base to tip, I start moving without asking.

"Nepu! Ah! Mm… uu, uuu,,, mm! Mm! Mn…! Hu! Mm! Ii! Haaaaa…!"

Fluids mixing and fleshing slapping, they fill the room as I go in and out of her.

"Hi! Ah! Mm! Ah, ah, Ah…! Uuu… Mm! J-Jaredd…!"

She can't move around much since I'm carrying her. So she just bounces up and down as I thrust.

"Hiunnn…! Hu! Uhu… nn, haa, haa, haa… ah! … nepu…nnn!"

"Jared, Jareed… huu…! Ngu, y-you're so deep… it f-feels…ahh… good!"

With my stake pounding into her, she responds erotically to me. Stimulating me to be more rougher with her.

"Nefuwaah! Ahnn! Jared…! Jared…! Aaah! Nn… Naaaaaah! Jareed…!"

Calling my name, her insides writhe as she calls, licking every inch of my thing.

"Ne..Aaaaah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Haaa…ah! Nnu, nn! Hinnn!"

With her perky breasts bouncing up and down, I catch on of them and suck on it noisily.

"Hau, mm! Mmu…! Huu, nnnn! Jared, Jared… huu, uu!... Nha… Aaaa!"

Each time I thrust into her, I playfully bite on her nipples. Her insides pulses as I do so, and her entrance is now pouring out even more fluids.

"Hiu…! Nn… Nhaa…! Ha, ah, ah, nnnnn…! Huu…! Ha! Ah…!"

Neptune's insides form complex ridges as she reacts to the pleasure, changing the stimulus I receive with each thrust. And each time I hit her womb, they try to wring the sperm out of me.

"Ah! Mmm! Haaa…! Uu…! Aaaah…! Nn! It's so… good!"

And each time I peak Neptune's face, as I suck, adds more to the stimulus. She clings to my head, gasping from the overwhelming pleasure.

"Jared, Jareeed…! Jared, Jared, Jareed…! I… I'm… nnnnaaaaaah!"

I stop my sucking and gaze at her completely stimulated face. Sweat and vagina fluids fly around as lewd sounds and smells fill the area around us.

"Ah, ah, ah! Jareed…! Mhm…mmm…! Mfwaaah! Haaaaa, haaa…! Auu… nnnn!"

She gave me a kiss, but with my other head kissing her womb it wasn't able to last. I ferociously move in and out of her.

"M-my…! H-head's… going… blank…! I can't think… Haa..! Nn, uuuu…!"

I can see the glimpses of a climax, like lightning flashing through the clouds. I'm not going to last…

"Mmmm! Ha! Ha! Ha…! Nn! Uuuu…! Hiu! Mm!"

The overwhelming desire to cum rises from my core. But I don't stop going rough on her…

"Neptune…!"

"Ja…! Red..! I-I-I'm…!"

Neptune tightens even harder, pushing another huge amount of hot fluid out from deep inside her. The impulse building up in my lower abdomen is getting stronger.

"Ah! Ah! I…! I can't…! I-I'm cumming…! Mm! I'm cumming…!"

"Uuu…! Mm…!"

Pushing all the way insider her soft flesh, I make sure I stick it in her womb and kiss her as I do so, pumping my thick semen inside.

"Mm! Mnnn! Mmmmmmm…!"

My hips move on their own even as I climax. Pounding into her several times as I shoot it out.

"Mm… Nm… Mnmn…! Mm…! Fuwah… haa… haa… aaahmpf…!"

"Mmm…!"

When I finally finish pumping all of my semen inside her, we stay connected, while I carry her, and just kiss each other.


	62. Chapter 62

Chapter 62:

"The sky is blue! The sea is blue! And the sun is shining! It's the beach!"

"Neppy! Wait for me!"

"…What is she shouting about?"

"Dunno…" I place the umbrella over the mat. Covering it from the sun's 400 nm to 10 nm electromagnetic radiation.

With the glistening sun over us, one would think that we're on summer vacation. But sadly it's spring, and the temperature, even if we're at the beach, is just what you would expect from spring. And to add one other thing, there are guests, besides us, who are in the beach today.

The girls are in their swimsuits, of course I'm in my boxers, given that we are at the beach. So to start this intuitive paragraph… Neptune is wearing a two piece swimsuit, specifically a sporty-like top and miniskirt bikini. It has white base and a blue lining with horizontal lines that consists of green, yellow, red and purple. Her top has a blue ribbon at the center. She changed wrist wear too, her right has a blue rigid round bracelet, and left has a white rigid bracelet with a stoned bracelet consisting of pink and white design. She still has her two D-pad hairclips though.

Plutie wears a one piece, with a pink base and white polka dots. It has a miniskirt at the bottom, with pink and white layers. On her chest she has a purple ribbon on top of the white frills. She also changed the ribbon that holds her braided hair, it has the same color scheme as that of her one piece.

Both of them are splasing around in the water.

"…We have the beach all to ourselves it seems…" Blanc stated as she sits on the mat and opened up a book.

"I guess…"

Blanc's swimsuit has the same ergonomics as Neptune's but with flowery design over a white base, red lining on the edges and it's not a strap around the neck. She has a red ribbon on her center top piece and some frills. And 2 more ribbons on the side on her bottom piece. She wears a pair of 2-flowered designed hair clips. On her left wrist is a stoned bracelet with alternating pink and white design and a pink rigid one as well.

"The sea! The sea!"

"Wait for us, Peashy!"

"Hey, don't run off without me!"

"Wait, you three! You haven't worn your sunblock yet!" Nepgear chases after the kids.

For Nepgear, she too wears a two piece the same as Neptune. But hers however has a red base with a pink and yellow horizontal lines, and it's not sporty, meaning hers are showing cleavage. And just a reminder, I'm not putting Neptune on the spot here. Her bikini has a yellow ribbon on top, and 2 more on the sides of her bottom. Her right has a yellow and pink rigid bracelet. Her sandals are pink and has a sunflower design. And like her sister, she has her one D-clip on her head.

Peashy is wearing a red swimsuit, with a panda design behind her. And she has this weird red gloves that she pestered me to buy that looks like some sort of an octopus head. Compa wears a two piece for kids. Given that at her young age that her chest is big. The two piece as brown edges and creamy color as its main. It also has polka dots. Iffy wears short trunks, covering her blue and black panty of her two piece, of course her top has also the same color. And of course the two piece is for kids. All three of them have tubes.

"…Those kids are excited…" Blanc silently comments.

"Aren't you excited as well?" I ask.

"…I'm more excited about reading this part here…" she turns a page.

"Isn't it because you haven't much… to _show_ for?"

"Grr! Whadya say thunder tits!?"

"Pfft!" can't help it! I really can't! Thunder tits…! Haha!

Vert wears a bikini with miniskirt. It has a brown base on the strap and the panty. Its leaf design is on the bra top and the skirt. She wears a heeled sandals with a green rose. She has a bangle on her right wrist and bracelet string.

"Vert…"

"Yes?"

"Allow me to apologize…"

"W-why? What brought this on?"

"I thought you were going for a sling bikini and another extremities. So I apologize…"

"My, I do have one at my bag, but I just chose not to for today…"

"…"

"…"

Blanc and I became silent at that fact. Okay, my apology was flushed down toilet.

"Because I wanted Nepgear to wear that" Vert add.

"…"

"…"

Okay. This is getting even more weirder.

"Hey, do you guys know where the sunblock is?" Noire and mini-Histy appeared.

Noire also wears a bikini. It has a brown lining with a pink as its main. Her panty and bra has some lines which are a tad darker than pink. She also has a garter belt on her right thigh. I don't know why she has one though. For Histy, who's still flying around on her open book, she wears a white tankini. I've really got nothing to go on for her since it really is just a plain white tankini. Sorry for that.

"…Nepgear has it" Blanc said.

"_haa… haa… _I finally got to them to wear the sunblock…"

*THUD!*

"H-Here Noire…" weakly, she stretches the sunblock towards Noire.

"Is she going to be alright? (＃⌒∇⌒＃)ゞ"

"*Sigh*…" Nepgear sighed answering mini-Histy's question.

"A moment of silence for her…" I pray.

"…" Blanc joined in.

"Goodness, I'm not dead!"

"Now, now. By the looks of it, you too haven't worn any sunblock yet, right? Allow your big sis to do that for you…" Vert pours the sunblock on her hand and…

"Kyaaah! V-Vert wh-where do you think you're tou-! Hyaah!" fondles her breast.

"Now, now… We can't have you turning brown now right?"

"B-But… haa, haa… ah!"

"H-Hey, you two what are you doing?" Noire is flushed.

"…"

"…" again we're both silent.

"Say Blanc, want to go and play with Neptune?"

"...Sure, anywhere but here. I can't even read my book" we take one last look at the grope scene. And no I'm not getting a hard on from that.

Letting Blanc put down her book, we both proceed to the water. It isn't that much warm since it's not summer. Neptune, Plutie and the kids aren't playing that far away. . I let Blanc go ahead first, and dive under with the intention to scare. I reach the bottom fast and swim towards them. Since the water is clear I see some pair of feet and a colorful stripped panties. This is Neptune alright.

"Raaaaah!"

"Nepu! It's the sea monster!"

*SPLASH!* *SPLASH!* *SPLASH!*

"Sea monster! Get away from Neppy!"

"Bugh! Guwaah! My nose!" I think my nose has some water blocking inside.

"Oh, it's just Jared? Where's the sea monster?"

"…He's the sea monster…" Blanc thumbs me down as such.

"Eeeeh? Jarey's a monster?"

"This is bad kiddies! Let's run away before the sea monster catches up to us!"

"I'll go with Nep!" kid-Iffy immediately latches on Neptune.

"Aww, I want Iffy to go with me"

"Well, with her trauma I doubt she can" Blanc and I nod at Neptune's statement.

"I'll go with Blanc!" Compa latches on to her.

"I'll be with Neptuna!" Peashy also latches on Neptune as well.

"So Blanc, guess we'll play as the sea monster then"

"Raaah! Run away you three or I'll get you alive! Raaaah!" I playfully scare them.

"Nepu! Let's run! Before the sea monster catches us!"

"Raaaah!"


	63. Chapter 63

Chapter 63:

"Whoop!"

*SMACK!*

"Got ya!"

*BING!*

"Hoo!"

*SMACK!*

"Nepu!"

"3-1!" mini-Histy announced.

After some playing, we decided to some beach volley ball next. The teams are me and Neptune versus Vert and Noire. The Vert-Noire team are in the lead by the way. Plutie is at the sideline playing with Nepgear and the kids build a sand castle. Blanc is, obviously, continuing to read her book.

"We'll lose at this rate…" I'm feeling competitive today. Of course, it's still moderate. But there is a reason for that.

* * *

"_Let's play some volleyball!_" _Neptune shouts as she runs towards us from our vacation, bringing with her what seems like a net and ball._

_"__We do have a ball. But how are we going to attach the net?" I ask her. And how did I not see that she'll bring one is beyond me._

_"__Look, there's two sticks that's_ so _conveniently standing apart from each other" she points. And she's right, there are one._

_"__Hey, who wants to play some beach volleyball?" I ask the girls who are playing in the water._

_"__Volleyball, eh? Maybe I could play…" Vert said._

_"__That's one. Anyone?"_

_"__Let's get Noire to play!" Neptune said._

_"__Noire, Neptune said she wants you to be her playmate…"_

_"__I-I'm playing right now" that she is. And what is she doing? Making a sand castle?_

_"__We're making a sand castle~~!" well that answered my question. Thanks, Plutie._

_"__We're making a big castle!" Peashy says as she brings in more sand._

_"__A very big castle!" kid-Compa adds._

_"__A very big one so that a hero can live here!"_

_"__Huwaa~~ I'm thirsty~~… Iffy, can you bring me some water?"_

_"__Here, madam Plutia" that was lightning fast! Is her trauma that deep!?_

_"__Jared, Jared…" I give out an ear, since Neptune's whispering._

_"…__Is Iffy really okay? What do you think?"_

_"__Dunno. But her trauma is so deep that she's a robot the instant Plutie asks of her…" I don't know if it would be good for her or not._

_"__Let's just let her, for now. It would also do her good. Not like there are signs that she's doing some extreme tasks just to appease our madam here"_

_"…__Okay"_

_"__So anyway, no one want's to play?" I ask once more. Nepgear and Blanc are playing by the ocean so I can't ruin their own fun._

_"__C'mon Noirey! Let's play!" Neptune pesters._

_"__No way! Why would I play volleyball?"_

_"__If you play volleyball with me then I'll give you my puddings!"_

_"__You always give me puddings!"_

_"__Eeh? You don't want my puddings? But they're tasty and supper yummy"_

_"__Isn't there anything you have _other _than puddings?"_

_"__Hmmm… Me?"_

_"__No one wou-… No, I'm wrong. But I don't want _you!_"_

_"__Geez, so stingy. I'm very lovely and angelic and cute, that's the whole reason why I have a boyfriend and all" lovely, angelic and cute? It still does fall on the looks second thing._

_"__Hmm… then if you win, Plutie will have a sleep over with you!"_

_"__Yaay! I get to go on a sleep over with Noirey!"_

_"__Pl-Pl-utia is going to sleep over with me!?"_

_"__Yeah!"_

_"__Hrm…" _

_And so the girl thinks. Like searching for the reason why most of us realize the each random passerby is living a life as vivid and as complex as our own? Or why there is a desire in some humans to disappear? Or wanting to know why there is an eerie tension of a looming thunderstorm? Or why a spark of eye contact can leave you blinded for days? Why is there a wistful foreboding on the first sight of autumn? Why do we have the instinctive tendency to see someone as you knew them in their youth? Why is there a fear that our life may be following a sequence of predictable milestones? Or a fear that it might never happen? The suspicion that we are utterly unique? Or maybe utterly not? The fear that there is no frontier left. That you've already felt everything you're ever going to feel._

_The girl thinks this all through. And searches for the answer… Not._

_"__Okay! I agree! But what should you bet on?"_

_"__Hmm… If we lose…" Neptune also thinks._

_"__We're…" if she's taking this long then…_

_"…__going to be naked for the whole day!" she's going to think something stu… WAIT WHAT!?_

* * *

And that's the reason why I have to win. It would be absolutely dreadful for me to walk away naked. Sorry, Noire.

"Hey, you're spacing out!" Noire shouts.

"Right. Sorry… Ready!?" I shout. Seeing our opponents faces nod, I toss the ball upward. As it comes down, my free hand spiked to the other side.

*SMACK!*

The ball flies to the other side. I move up towards the net, readying for anything. Vert received my serve. She moves away, letting Noire set with a toss near the net. Vert runs and jumps, with her hand ready for a spike. I jump as well leveling her blocking her attack.

"...!"

*SMACK!*

She spiked the ball as hard as she could. The ball flies towards an opening to my side as I fall down. Crap, there's no time!

*BONG!*

"Got it!"

"Nice one, Neptune!"

With Neptune's save, the ball hovers into the air. I jump high and ready my hand to spike it.

"Haaa!"

"Haaa!"

2 pair of hands cover my assault for a point. I quickly look around for any other possible spots to spike to. Damn, none. And I'm out of time as well.

*SMACK!*

I spike the ball regardless. Since both of them are right in front of me right now means that there's no one guarding the back. The ball flies towards my target, but was blocked by the fingers. A triumphant smile forms on my face.

Since the ball was rolling upward, with a bit of physics applied to it, it would naturally go upward. And with some kinetic force left from my spike, it would naturally proceed forward towards the ground.

"3-2!" Histy shouted.

"Yay! We got a point back!" Neptune cheered as we both high fived.

"Let's keep that up and we'll eventually win"

"Eeh? You don't want Noire to be all friendly-devy with Plutie?" As much as I want that to happen. I don't want to go around in my birthday suit all day.

"Hey, you guys done strategizing?" Noire asks from the service.

"Yeah. We were done talking about how you show you're desperateness of having friends"

"Grr! I'm not-!" she tossed the ball high.

"Lonely!"

*SMACK!*

"Whoa! Neptune, think fast!"

The ball flies like a bullet from Noire. Got her angry, huh? That was a good for me actually. I go low and receive the ball where I assume it would be.

*BING!*

The ball flies high upon receiving it. Damn her overhead serve is a pain. Neptune made a forearm toss over her. I run towards it, jump and spiked it to the other side of the net.

"Hoo!"

Noire tossed it up and behind her Vert is ready to jump. I quickly made a dash for it for the net and ready myself to block her spike. The ball falls and both of us jumped.

*SMACK!*

*SMACK!*

I blocked the ball. But unfortunately it deflects upward over me. I can't touch it since I just did, meaning Neptune's the only who can. So…

"Huaaa!"

"What!?"

*SMACK!*

The ball flies towards their inside. Scoring the equalizer point for us. Our opponents seem dumbstruck. Well, if you deceive them long enough they actually would. Up until this point, I let them think that I, a passerby, would be bringing my side to glorious victory. Meaning, I allowed them to think that Neptune won't do much. But what they don't actually know that Neptune and I, along with our-Iffy and our-Compa, through our travels together, have developed our little secret language non-verbally. That's the whole reason why we 4 are able to execute plans without our opponents knowing about it.

"Nepu! My hand hurts, Jared!" she's about to cry.

"Oh really?"

"Mhm! It's red and everything!"

"Really? I thought you said you can deal it?" I take a look at her hand. Nothing that major though.

"But you look like it was nothin', so I thought I got it!"

"Harder than it looks right? Here…" I kiss her palm.

"Better now? I've got nothing on me for now if it hurts again"

"Mhm! All better now!" she can be very simplistic at times.

"Let's get ready for our last round" we take our positions.

It's Vert's turn to serve. She readies herself for an underhand pass. Hm? Trying to copy me? Or is it something else? Vert launches the ball towards me. I receive with a dig and it flies towards Neptune. She tosses it, setting it up for a spike. I jump high, and spiked it to the other side.

*SMACK!*

Noire receives it. She copies what I did, and performed a dig. Vert jumps and gave me a spike.

*SMACK!*

"Got it..!" I received it, but the ball just went and flies back towards the other side. Vert is on the ready once more as she jumps for another spike. Damn! I'm open!

*SMACK!*

"Neptune to save the day!"

"To save the day indeed…" Neptune received her spike by blocking it her palm.

The ball flies into the air so high that it's practically begging for someone to spike it. I run, and so as Noire on the other side. The ball slowly falls as we both launch ourselves into the air and to the ball. With form, we both ready our hand...

"For Plutia's sleepover!"

"For me not to be naked the whole day!"

*SMACK!*


	64. Chapter 64

Chapter 64:

"I can't believe it was a draw..."

"I didn't know that a clash was a foul move..." and I think it was supposed to be called reaching across the net.

"Geez, you two were so into it that I had to call a draw. (-_-)"

"Aww, it would have been fun for me and Jared to be naked the whole day" you were literally expecting that Neptune.

"What's even more sad is that Plutie won't be able to have a sleepover with Noire…"

"Gh!"

"Aww, Noirey is going to be all lonely without me"

"I-I'm not gonna be lonely!" she reacts with red on her face.

"Geez, when Noire is this cornered she can be really transparent, doesn't she?" Neptune said.

"I agree…"

"She is very obvious. (-_-)"

"…She's like an open book"

"And the more she denies the more it gets obvious" Vert adds.

"G-Geez! Stop picking on me! I told you that I'm not that lonely!" how very obvious that you are.

With the sun setting over the distant sea and the sky turning into a brilliant shade of orange and gold, we fix what we set up here. The sound of the sea that ever so soundly sings like a lullaby was our background music as we set everything up once more.

"Playing volleyball is really tiring" Vert said.

"Well, it is mostly a sport where you often have to jump around so much"

"Aww… I really wanted to play~~ But I'm really, really and slow and get tired a lot" Plutie said. At least shes conscious of it.

"Mmm! If Plutie joined us we could have won that in full swing!" Neptune said.

"But that would be unfair, y'know" 3 against 2, that is.

"Then we can bring Blanc along!"

"…I wouldn't play much since I don't know how"

"Really? I thought books would depict how volleyballs play out"

"After seeing you guys play… I wouldn't want to try it" so we just broke your expectations of volleyball, huh? How sad…

As we talk, I roll the mat and into a sushi roll, as they call it. Then I pick up the giant umbrella that I stuck it on to the sand fold its cover. I tie it in the included strap. I carry the umbrella over my shoulder and the rolled mat under my arm.

"…Woooh, I didn't noticed it before, but you have some muscles" Blanc says her surprise.

"Hehe, and he have this cute belly button too! Kutchy-kutchy~~!" Neptune plays with my belly. Hey, I am trying not to laugh here.

"By the way where are the kids?" Vert wondered.

"...I believe they're with Nepgear" Blanc answered Vert.

"Jar-Jar! Look! Look! We found shells!"

"There were so many black shells!"

"Mhm! We couldn't bring them all back!"

The kids came back along with Nepgear. The kids came back with a bucket full of _Mya arenaria_. I could make a dish out of this. But I don't know why they would bring back those? Maybe they got interested because it's clams? Hmm…

"Um… I thought they'd be interested about clams but I didn't think that they'll bring back some" Nepgear answered without me questioning.

"Nah, its fine. They all look good to me. Maybe we could have some soup with those…" but with this many, how long would it take to brush them all?

"You girls good with soup tonight?" I just have to ask. Well, when you're talking about clam shells, the only to mind is clam soup

"Sure! And let's have some drinks on top of that!" Neptune said.

"Well, at least the clams aren't a total waste. Sure" her sister answered.

"…Last night was a bit cold, so it would be perfect for tonight. (*^▽^*)"

"Clam soup, eh? I guess we haven't had one of those yet" Vert seemed interested.

"…It'll be a good change of pace" Blanc said.

"Jarey, always makes deliiicious food!"

"Well, he does make food that's irresistible…" you could just be honest and say that you're absolutely hooked onto my cooking, Noire.

"Okay, you three go on ahead and put some water on that. Add 2 spoonful's of salt alright?"

"Okaaaaaay!" the three ran off while carrying a bucket of full of clams.

* * *

"_Aaaaa… _This fire is so warm!"

"Waaaarm~~! Waaarm~~!"

After returning, I immediately set myself into quick brushing these clam shells. It's best if we don't have their included moss while I boil them. The girls here are just doing they're own business presumably waiting for dinner to arrive in a form of clam soup. It really would take awhile considering the amount those kids brought back.

"You know maybe we could cook some popcorn with this fire..." Neptune said.

"How about some marshmallows..." Plutie adds.

"Ooh! That could be very tasty! Let's ask chef Jared!"

"That would be our dessert later"

*BRUSH!* *BRUSH!*

"Yay! We'd get to have tasty marshmallows!"

"Speaking of tasty... would anyone want to join me in the hot spring?" Vert asked.

"We had a hot spring? (・_・?)"

"Apparently we have, it wasn't written in the description when Jared scouted this vacation home"

"Hot springs, eh? We could get our skin to be smooth" Noire said in excitement. Hot springs tends to do that.

"...I hate to admit it, but I agree. They're very popular wonder in Lowee..."

"Oh yeah, Lowee here are famous for their hot springs" Nepgear said.

"I usually visit Lowee once in a while to rejuvenate" Vert said.

"Hot steamy springs! And that means there's going hot steamy scenes!" Neptune said.

"Hot steamy scenes?" Plutie is as innocent as ever.

"Y'know like an H...!"

"Quickly, kids! Cover Neptune's mouth!" I instantly ordered.

"Right!" the three tries to tackle Neptune. I didn't tell them to tackle her.

"Nepu! H-hey! You three! D-Don't just attack me all at once!"

"Well, let's get to the hot springs already"

"My, Noire seems excited" Vert said.

"Of course, no girl would ever pass up on a chance to smooth their skin" I believe their's one.

"Aha, Noire is right about that one. (๑ᴗ๑)"

"Ah, Compa, IF, Peashy. Want to go to the hot springs with us?"

"Okay!"

"Hot springs!"

"Hot springs, sounds fun!"

With eagerness the girls head towards the back pass the stairs towards the sliding door that leads to the open air bath at the back.

"…Are you coming or not?" Blanc said to Neptune as she turned from the doorway.

"Cooomiiing! Hot spring~~ Hot spring~~" Neptune follows along.

*BRUSH!* *BRUSH!*

"Hm? Jared, aren't you coming with us?" Neptune asked as she stopped and head's towards me.

"Nah, I would but I have cook these first…" and burshing these are a pain.

"Eeh? Isn't seeing you're wife-to-be's nude body enough for you to join?" the hell?

"I've seen it plenty of times"

"Eeeh!? D-Don't tell me you're so used to it that you're getting tired of seeing it!" no, I didn't say that.

"No, no. Maybe this could be an event where we would force Jared to wash our backs only to make him go red and have a nosebleed" she mumbles to herself.

"What am I some generic dude that would get flustered at the first sight of boobs?" that would be utterly ridiculous given the circumstance that I've been through.

"C'mon big guy! Let's get to the hot spring!" Neptune pulls on me.

"…H-Hey, you'll seriously pull my arm out of its socket" Neptune pulls me towards the door she slides open the door with glee. My instincts tell me that this is a bad time to go inside, but with Neptune pulling me so suddenly, I lost my balance and can't quite seem to find the strength to resist her.

"Hey guys! I brought Jared along!"

"Eh?"


	65. Chapter 65

Chapter 65:

"Eh?"

"…"

"…"

Want me to tell you what I'm looking at right now? Well, I'll tell you, white is good for the eyes. The white color stimulates all three types of color sensitive visual receptors in the human eye, which are the S, M and L types, in nearly equal amounts. Resulting in the tightening of iris allowing for focus.

A white neck. A white back. White curves along her sides. Two large whites of smooth skin with a closed opening at the center and another closed opening right near it that nearly forms a line of how tight it is closed. There's also two other whites with a pink protrusion each that are pointing about. Although I say white, it should be more accurate that it's to say that it's fair. I noticed her black hair and red eyes that stares at me, a mixture of shocked and awe.

I overclock my brain.

Hmmm… what to do? Clearly she was about to do the last stages of removing her panties by going it through her legs. That's why her back is turned and I can see, frankly, her ass and her crevice. In this kinds of situations one should complement a girl, right? In my experience, it usually ends up in me going in naturally and coax her into sleeping with me. But I have Neptune, so that's not going to happen. Plus this is Noire we are talking about here, who knows what terrible thing she'd do to me.

Looking around for a moment, I found the others hiding in the corner. It's as if they knew that this would happen and hid themselves to watch what would happen next. So I won't have any back up for me today, huh? And with Neptune here of all people things are bound to fulfill the book of Revelations soon enough.

What to do… What to do… What to do… Hmmm… I think I got it. Well it might not work as it intended to be so... let's give a shot. As a wise man once said, humans should be brave for new frontiers. So with effort I breathe in and fill my lungs. And ready my larynx to vibrate air to from sounds.

"Nice tits, Noire. But since I'm a single minded buffoon, I prefer Neptune's. But still, nice tits, indeed" I nod to myself.

I walk away right afterward. I close the sliding door behind me and head to the kitchen to pick up the bucket full of clams with a brush inside. I take it outside and wait for a storm to pass.

"GARGYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"Gargya?" now that's funny.

* * *

*BRUSH!* *BRUSH!*

"Mgu, mgu, mgu, mgu, mgu!"

"Mmmmmgghh~~~!"

*BRUSH!* *BRUSH!*

I continue to brush the clams that are left and put them into an included bucket where all the brushed clams are. Wondering how I can hear the anger of two girls? Well, I was going to continue to brush these clams as I stare the reflection of the night sky on the sea. But I was suddenly called by Nepgear, of course not naked, to go to the back and sit on the bamboo wall at the back that separates me from the hot spring themselves.

"Care to explain yourself?" Noire interrogates through the bamboo wall. I guess I shouldn't be sarcastic about this.

"Neptune forced to go. Not my fault" I answer honestly.

"And… do you honestly believe that I'll believe that! Pervert! Lecher!" such verbal abuse. Doesn't she know that I have feelings as well?

"Now, now. It clearly isn't his fault…" I hear Vert defending me.

"…Mhm, it's clearly Neptune's fault for pulling him in" Blanc adds. I have a lot of supporters in this case.

"And it's clearly chance that he just happened to see you. （￣へ￣）"

"Jareeey's innoceeent!"

"So if it's Sis' fault. Why is she angry?" Nepgear asked.

"B-Because! Jared told Noire's boobies were nice!" jealousy problems I presume.

"Eh?" seems almost everyone is shocked.

"..He did say, he prefers yours so what's the problem?" Blanc asked.

"I get that… but the problem is… I can only have big breasts for a limited time!" I think I can imagine Neptune pointing at something as if it we something important.

"Haa?"

"In a relationship, if a woman can't satisfy a guy's love of boobs, then they'll break up eventually!"

"Where'd you heard that?" I just have to ask.

"In Blanc's private stash…"

"…Eeeh!? I d-don't have those kinds of books!"

"I see, so the quiet Blanc has such fantasies as well…" I hear Vert mumbles.

"*Sigh*…Well no matter what, she is a woman with needs and wants after all…" I mumble to myself.

"To think that Blanc has even have that… the scales have fallen before me" Nepgear also joined the mumbling club.

"Eeeeh!? So Blanny's a pervert!"

"Not this Blanc, the other Blanc! The other Blanc!" so Blanc from our dimension has those? What doing it for research on how to make here breast grow? I understand that big breasts are a woman's pride but that doesn't have to be something to insecure for, right?

"Ahem… the book said: That guys need to have a daily dose of boobs or they'll leave you eventually"

"Tell Blanc to tell the publisher to burn his own house down…"

"…I couldn't agree more…" this Blanc said.

"And, and. If the guy is unsatisfied because of the lack of boobs, he'll go and chant: 'I wish I can touch some real boobs' or something"

"And tell her that the publisher house should also get burned down to the ground…"

"…Maybe some dynamites would also do…"

"That'd be too extreme, but let's add some fireworks as well" and that's even more extreme.

"But since I can stay in HDD mode for a short time…" Neptune is still continuing?

"…Jared will starve from the lack of boobies!"

"Jarey's going to starve!"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"*Sigh*… never a dull moment" I facepalm. Sometimes Neptune can be very randome. Too random.

"Isn't it hard that you're Neptune's boyfriend?" Noire asked.

"Nah, not really. I've grown used to her randomness" I'm a very adaptive man, I believe.

"Still though…"

"Haha, I get the point. But she can be very adorable sometimes that we can't just help it, right?"

"Adorable? I think she's been a pain in the head…"

"Hmm. Like for example…" I look up onto the roof of the night sky. A series of stars twinkle as if it were something epic. But my line of sight isn't on those twinkling bits but something white and majestic.

"Neptune…" I call out to her through the bamboo wall.

"Hm?"

"…Look, the moon is beautiful tonight, isn't it?"

"Mhm! It really is!" I think I can imagine a big grin from her.

"See? Adorable, right?"

"I -I guess…"

"Also Noire, I forgot to mention…"

"Hm?"

"You also have some nice ass there as well. But I stil l prefer Neptune's, though. Also you're growing a bit of flab on your sides, maybe due to eating sweets so better cut that down…" I just can't help it.

"Grrrrrrrrrrrrr~~! LECHER! PERVERT! MOLESTER! KYAAAAAAAAAH!"

*SPLASH!* *SPLASH!* *SPLASH!* *SPLASH!*

"Noire! D-Don't or you'll bump your head!" Nepgear said.

"No wait, Nepgear! You'll let the wa-! *Gargle!* *Gargle!* *Gargle!*"

"Nepuuuu! Histy's drowning! Save her! Save her!"

"Uwaaaaaaaaah!"

"…This is even more ridiculous…" Blanc said.

"But it's still fun to watch them…" Vert said with a tinge of a laugh in her tone.

"Well, that's what having fun is all about…"


	66. Chapter 66

Chapter 66:

"_Hey, do you believe in ghosts?_"

"_No… probably?_"

"_Wanna hear a story?_"

"Hrm…" I massage my temples a bit.

Whether you answer that question or not, it'll always and most predictably go into ghost telling stories. Or how one have probably experienced a ghost. We often disregard ghost stories as some sort of a trick of a mind. A mere fantasy against what we call 'reality'. But 'reality' for the most part, is just merely our own perspective that we paint over ourselves. So whether ghosts are real or not, it depends on owns reality, rather their perspective.

For me, well, the answer is quite simple.

"…That's what happened…"

"Oh my, that really is scary…"

"Eh? What about a doll that has a weird look on its face? I say we should just throw it out!"

"Neppy's so brave!"

"…If you would actually be there, I'll bet that you'll drop your pudding" heh, I kinda remembered the time that we went inside that haunted house.

"Ahahaha! That was a funny story!" and one kid here seems that it's funny.

With pretty much done eating our clam soup everyone gathered right near the fire place. I don't why we should do ghost telling, but since Neptune's asking, we decided why not. A few scares is good for the complexity after all. The kids are pretty much excited to hear some stories as well.

"Okay, onto our next story! Hmm… it's Vert's turn, right?" Neptune said beside me.

"I guess it is… *Ahem*… here goes…"

* * *

There was once a married couple who owned a day care center. Of course being a daycare center, kids will always pick favorites of who they like. And obviously it was the wife. The kids would play together with her, pick on the husband for no apparent reason, but still their life in the day care were fun.

One day, the wife learned that the husband was unfaithful. They argued and argued and argued until the husband couldn't take it anymore. He raised his fist against her over and over and over again. Until everything had gone silent. The husband realized that he had beaten his wife to death.

He knew he is going to jail for that. He wrapped the body in a body bag and buried her in their backyard. He also hid all of the evidence. After a while he had thought of excuses if anyone might ask him. And that 'anyone' were the children of the day care center. He knew those children would impose on him if she were missing from the day care. So he made the excuse that 'she went to another country. She didn't have time to say goodbye'. A perfect excuse…

He continued to work at the day care like always. But the children never asked. 2 days, passed. 2 more have passed. He agonized each and every single day. Why? Surely they knew something wasn't right. So why haven't they asked? Another 2 more days have passed, and he couldn't take it.

"Aren't you guys lonely without her here?"

The children all looked at him confused.

"But…"

The man gulped.

"She's right there…"

The man looked slowly looked behind. And…

* * *

"Kyaaaaah!" a scream interrupts us.

"N-Nep Jr. W-Why did you shout?" Neptune asked as she is clinging to me.

"I-I just felt a cold chi~~ll…"

"G-Geez, don't shout like that!" Blanc said.

"Y-yeah, y-you're making everyone feel scared!"

"My, my. Was my story a bit too scary…"

"It certainly was. (￣□￣;)"

"Vert's stories are toooooo scary…!"

"It was practically terrifying that even the children are clinging to both of us…"

With Neptune is clinging to me, with knees shaking. But the three kids are clinging to both of us, that it's becoming a little bit heavier by the second. I don't mind this but…

"I think its Jared's turn now…" Vert looked at me. Yup, it's my turn now. I do have a series of scary stories. And several others that aren't using 'conventional' means. But I won't be using those…

"I think it is. But let me ask, on a scale of 1 – 10, with 10 being the highest, how scary would you like my story to be?"

"10!" and all of you we're scared just a little while ago, right?

"Hrmm…" I guess a 'little' bit of 'that' won't hurt. I'll just do something at the end that won't be any side effects down the road.

"Let me prepare…"

* * *

"…A bowl of water?" Blanc said.

"It is..." I put down the bowl of water

"I want you girls to drink this…"

"But we don't have glasses…" Noire said.

"It's fine if you just poke it with a finger and have a sip of it…"

All the girls dipped a finger on the bowl full of water. They bring to their mouth and sipped that water off of them. They went back to their usual places, and all stared at me. Oh, the pressure…

"Here's a story I heard once upon a time"

* * *

_There was once a boy who is walking home from school on a clear day. The roads were quiet and the sun is shimmering in brightness. Upon reaching in intersection, there he saw a strange man pass by. The boy thought he was strange since he had an umbrella even though it's not that hot nor was it raining._

*tap* *tap* *tap* *tap*

"Eh?"

"What is it, Neppy Jr?" Plutie asked.

"Um… I thought I heard footsteps…"

_The boy moves on, until he also came to another intersection. The same man walks by again._

*tap!* *tap!* *tap!* *tap!*

"Was that the wind?" Vert noticed as well.

"…I think it is…" Blanc said.

_Was the man simply took a wrong a turn? No, the boy thought. He ran for it, but then in the next intersection the same man walks again._

*TAP!* *TAP!* *TAP!* *TAP!*

"No… wait, is someone here?" Nepgear asked beyond the darkness.

"Nep-Nep, I'm scared…" kid-Compa said.

"Ahahaha… W-well, I think it's just nothing…" I'm noticing that Neptune's getting scared as well.

*TAP!* *TAP!* *TAP!* *TAP!*

"Nepu! There it is again!"

"Someone's heeeree~~!" Plutie panics.

*TAP!* *TAP!* *TAP!* *TAP!*

"Tch! H-Hey who's there!?" Blanc summoned her axe. But despite her threat, the pure darkness surrounding us never answered.

*TAP!* *TAP!* *TAP!* *TAP!*

"Show yourself or else!?" Noire also summoned her own weapon, and gave a threat to the looming darkness.

_The boy felt that there was something wrong here. He could not put it into words what he is feeling._

*TAP!* *TAP!* *TAP!* *TAP!*

"H-hey! Tell us who are you right now!" Blanc is beginning to shake.

"Th-This is getting really bad, isn't it…" Vert said. A slight tinge of scare in her voice.

"（／_＼）" mini-Histy is now an emoticon now.

"Jar-Jar! I'm scared!"

"Don't worry… it's probably just the wind…"

"Neppy! What should we do!?"

"W-What should we do…! Ahahahaha…!" Neptune is getting nervous while still clutching to me.

"…Th-This is getting scary…!" Nepgear holding herself to keep her stable.

"I-It's getting cold, Gear…!" kid-Iffy holds onto Nepgear. How did she get there?

_The boy runs as fast as he could towards the next intersection. And as he stops, he hears the footsteps again._

*TAP!* *TAP!* *TAP!* *TAP!*

"S-sis…!?"

"W-What…?"

"B-B-B-B-B-Behind you…Eeek!"

"EH…?! N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N….!" Neptune ran away towards the opposite…

"Eeeeeeeek!" as well as Compa…

*TAP!* *TAP!* *TAP!* *TAP!*

_Step by step that steps of the man was getting louder and louder; closer and closer._

*TAP!* *TAP!* *TAP!* *TAP!*

_The boy can't move. The steps of the man comes closer and closer. He closed his eyes…_

*TAP!* *TAP!* *TAP!* *TAP!*

"Eeeeeeeekkkk!" all of the girls squeals in fright.

*TAP!* *TAP!* *TAP!* - *TAP!*

_And when the walk steps stop. The boy slowly opened his eyes…_

"J… Jared?"

"B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-Behind … you…!"

_He slowly looks up and then…!_

_"_K-KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!_"_

* * *

*SNAP!*

"And that's the end of my story…"

"Wh-What ha…?"

"Nepu? Wha? Huh?"

"Huh?"

"What just…?"

"Huh… I thought we just saw…?"

"What just happened…? (ﾟｰﾟ;"

The girls, as if they have been woken up, all looked around in confusion, all of them were in their places. No one had left their spots. The one thing that they noticed was that the lights were on. Of course, I just opened it. Their eyes looked around as if they were searching for one more person to be here. And lastly all of them looked at me.

"What happened?" Noire asked.

"Hypnotism…" a lie.

"Hypnotism?"

"Well, I didn't basically made you girls dance around sing" haha, that'd be funny.

"Then what happened?" Nepgear asked.

"*Sigh*…" it can't hurt to explain. But I really have to watch my words here. So, I hold Neptune's hand.

"Ehe…" a small smile.

"Well, in hypnotism, there is this one state of mind that the client should always be"

"A state in mind?" Blanc said.

"Yeah… it's trust" well it is actually the most essential of all.

"When in hypnotism, the client should trust whole heartedly of the process of hypnotism. That means, the client will do all the preparations that the hypnotist needs for it to be successful. Like, relaxing unitl you feel at peace or something"

"But you never asked us to do that" Vert said.

"But you trust me"

"Hm?"

"See. I asked in a scale of 1 to 10 of how scary my story will be. You girls answered 10, therefore you trust that my particular story will the scariest of them all. That would have been enough seeing that all of you were so concentrated on me that your brain was in a similar state"

"I see…" mini-Histy nods.

"Next, was what I like to call the trigger, or for technicalities sake it is called induction. I think you've seen this many times, like the pocket watch swinging in front of your face, or lying down or sitting. That's where the bowl of water comes in…" they all looked at the bowl of water.

"The bowl of water isn't anything special by any means. But it did serve as the trigger to get you to the state of circulation"

"Serkulason?" Plutie said with question marks above her head.

"Circulation. It's the part where, in TV shows that is, that I would be able to command you. But you may ask how I put you in that state. The bowl of water is your answer. By taking a sip of the water, I was able to put you in a state where your trust is of its highest that your brain has been literally clouded by what you hear…"

"By what we hear?" Nepgear ponders.

"You see, going to the circulation stage is easy with a bit of meditating. It's just clearing your head of all thoughts and letting other thoughts fill in. Much like a glass of water, where the contents are spilled and then refilled with wine. Then when the person sees the glass of wine. They'll perceive it as something 'true'. And not question if the glass was originally used for water"

"That sounds scary…" kid-Compa said.

"To the wrong people, of course…" hypnosis can be dangerous after all.

"But that doesn't actually explain by how we got to that point" Noire said.

"Let's see… when you hear a gunshot fired out of nowhere. You would instinctively look at where the gunshot was. That 'instinctive state' is what I was aiming for. It's the same with this, when you took a sip of that water, you instinctively analyzed its taste. You cleared you're head of all thoughts and concentrated on it. Much like if you want to evaluate my cooking. At that time, I snapped my fingers"

"But we didn't hear anything…"

"Well, that's just a side effect. And so since you're in that state, I think you know what happened. I just made you imagine strongly what I was saying"

"The stepping sound…" Nepgear said. No fear in the tone, but rather it's more of a statement.

"That's pretty amazing… (ﾉﾟ0ﾟ)ﾉ~"

"That's kinda cheap…" Blanc complained.

"Well you've got to admit that it got us good…" Vert adds.

"It was really scary!"

"Mhm! I got so scared that I dropped my pudding!" you don't have a pudding right now though.

"Jar-Jar is so cool!"

"The coolest!"

"Cool! Cool!"

"So then why aren't we feeling scared right now?" Noire asked.

"Termination. I just wake you girls up like it was just a dream, plus terminated your fear of it right afterwards. Heck, even if I turn off the lights right now, you won't feel scared"

"That's amazing…"

"See? Jared can do lots of stuff! He could probably make a rabbit come out of a box!" Neptune said.

"That's amazing!"

"Well, I'm not going to do that to you girls ever again, trust me on that one. It was a pain in the ass though, not very easy to do. I'd rather avoid the hassle…"

"…Well, it was a good experience…" Blanc said.

"She's right. I don't think a scary story was that thrilling…" Vert said.

"It was entertaining to say the least. (^～^)"

"Well, if you enjoyed it, I'm relieved to hear that. But I really won't be doing that again…" I check the time.

"Huwaaaaa…" kid-Compa yawned.

"Guess it's sleepy time… c'mon let's get going you three…" I stand up and urge them.

"B-But… I'm not sleepy… *Yaaawn*…" you aren't making it any more convincing, kid-Iffy.

"Nepu? Uwaa, P-ko is down for the count" Neptune says as she stands and carries her. I mean seriously, she really does look like a mother for a moment there.

"C'mon you two, it's time to sleep. You girls want to come?"

"…Nah, we'll continue our ghost stories without you" Blanc said.

"You sure?"

"Mhm, you can just got to sleep you two" Nepgear said.

"Okay, then. C'mon, you two don't wobble around…"

With Neptune following me at my side. All four of us headed upstairs to sleep. As we do so, I give one last thought about what happened.

'_I guess I'm still able to control it… or maybe I'm getting soft_' either way, the results says so. And truth be told, hypnotism never really worked for me.


	67. Chapter 67

Chapter 67:

"Bye-Bye! Have a nice sleep!"

After the 4 of them head upstairs, the remaining girls remained seated on the floor near the fire place with the lights on. They actually have no reason to stay on the floor and could just seat on the included couch that came with the rent. Well for the most part, they don't know why they feel compelled to still stay on the floor.

"Well, he got us again, didn't he..." Vert starts the conversation.

"A guy like him, eh (^^"

"...I do have to admit... he is one heck of a guy..." Blanc said.

"Mhm, mhm. He's really cool…" Plutie said.

"The first time he got us surprised like this was when he intervened in Leanbox years ago" Noire pointed out.

The girls remember the time that he intervened in that fight. Against CopyPaste a big sack of a robot that can throw punches and missiles. And against Arfoire, who, at the time, was really tough to beat. Probably because she was prepared to face 6 goddesses at the same time. By then, a strange man appeared, fought the two by stealing Arfoire's weapon and released some smoke to drive them away.

"Yeah, he made those two retreat just like that, when 6 of us had a rougher time" Nepgear said.

"…I think he used tear gas…" Blanc thought.

"…I thought that too… and who would think that would work…" Vert adds.

"Yeah, and he was fast too. Like he was just playing with them…" Noire said.

"Speaking of playing… When we fought him, it kinds feels like a he wasn't very serious…" Blanc said.

They also remember when Neptune told them that he was a great fighter and fighting CopyPaste and Arfoire was a just a workout for him. Of course, they shrugged it off as just a fluke on that part. The thought that 6 goddesses had a hard time as oppose to just one human, is just merely impossible. That was when their thoughts consile on one thing: 'To test him'.

As they all know, the test ended, without so much of a bruise. Not really the result they were looking for but it did lack of something. And much of it was felt during the actual fight. He wasn't taking them seriously.

"…We did felt it…" Nepgear answered her.

"I don't know what it is, but when we fought him. It feels 'off' for some reason"

"I did too. He's attacks were certainly powerful, but it kinda feels like that it's not his all…" Vert adds.

"Then he's holding back? （￣へ￣）?"

"Yeah…"

"B-But… he's taking care of the kids really seeeriously!" Plutie defends.

When Plutie said that. Their heads floated to the times that he was, quite practically, a father figure to those three. The kids all like him, and they follow him around like sheep to their shepherd. And for the most part, they wouldn't be surprised if one day those kids decided to call them papa.

"And that's a good thing about him… He's really serious about that part" Nepgear has a small smile on her.

"…He raised those kids well…" Blanc said.

"He did say he once took care of a child for 6 months" Nepgear said.

"He did?" Noire asked.

"…I didn't know he has his own child…" Blanc said.

"He really didn't elaborate, but I figure that he just took of the child. But not his own. （*＾＾*)"

"I see… That would explain his experience…" Noire concludes.

"Which reminds me, does anyone know who he _really _is?" Vert said.

"…No one. He doesn't talk much about who he is…" Blanc answered.

"It's kinda weird on that part… He just says that he's a passerby or something. What's with that

anyway?" Noire adds.

"Maybe he reeeaaally is a passerby! Passersby are so amazing!" Plutie said.

"I doubt we could ever find a passerby like him. (-_-"

"When my sis talks about him before, she never once told me his past" Nepgear said.

"Maybe she doesn't know about it as well…" Noire said.

"…And that's another surprise that he got us with…" Blanc adds.

"…They're relationship" Vert finishes.

This particular topic that they've touched over and over is already a done topic. They have accepted their relationship. But it is still quite unbalanced, to put it into words. Looking at them feels like you're watching a silly little sibling pestering her working big brother. But it is quite adorable…

"It was a quite a shocker when they really were engaged…" Noire said.

"Honestly, I really don't have any words for those two; 'cute' would be close…" Vert said.

"...I think 'siblings' is a much better term for them…" Blanc adds.

"They're right for each other and the same time they're aren't. (emoticon please!)"

"It's like watching those puppy love shows" Nepgear said.

Their conversation flowed out. It's was just a heartfelt, conversation about the relationship of a guy and girl who is already sleeping upstairs. They've seen those two interact over and over again. And each time, it was fun to look at.

"Although he really is a mysterious person by nature..." Noire starts.

"...He's kind..." Blanc adds.

"He's reliable..." Vert added.

"He's also smart as well..." Nepgear added one more.

"And he's really amaziiiing!" and Plutie gave the river.

"Maybe all of us just likes him. ＼(^▽^＠)ノ"

"Like, huh? So you're saying that we have romantic feelings for him?" Noire said.

"…That would be possible since we're already talking much about him" Blanc said.

"I wouldn't mind falling for him too, if it were allowed…" Vert said.

"But it would be nice if we confessed to him though…" Nepgear said.

"Mhm, mhm! And tell him how we like him everyday! Like Neppy!" Plutie adds.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHH!?"

Their shouts might have woken the neighbors if they have one. Or it might have awoken a few sleeping angels up above the cloudy night sky. Either way, their epic epiphany leaves all of them red in the face. Intense feelings swirls around in them, and their brains have one but one thing on their mind: the only man they know.

"Uh… ah…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"（/･_･/)"

For them, this is rather awkward. Seeing that all 5, including mini-Histy, have realized their own dormant feelings towards this passerby. They are literally quite speechless. Who wouldn't? They just realized that they like him.

"Um… yeah… So we like him huh… Ahahahaha" a dry laugh escapes Noire. She's red.

"…Y-You're awfully calm about this…" Blanc, who is also red in the face, retorted.

"O-Of course! You have t-t-t-to be r-r-r-really calm about this, right!?"

"…She's right… Let's not think about hi…." Vert who was about to agree got even more redder and like everyone is interlinked or something, they too got more redder as well.

"Hey, hey… Is this what Neppy always feel?"

"I-I-I-I-I don't know… I-I-It's my first time, f-f-f-f-f-f-falling in love…" Nepgear almost panicked at the fact.

"I-I-I don't think panicking would help. (/ﾟДﾟ/)"

"No one is panicking, geez! D-Do we really him all that much!?" Noire answered.

"Th-Then, when!? When did we fall in love!?" Blanc demands the answer from her own heart.

"Wh-Why are you asking me? I'm having a hard time knowing this as well"

"B-But if we do like him? D-Doesn't that mean, th-that we have to co-co-co-confess…!"

At time, one could say that steam ha-have practically blown out of their heads. They knew they were over thinking this. But they can't stop it, the inside of their heads are filled and filled of thought about the passerby who has already have a fiancée.

"But he already has Neppy! How would we co-confess to him!" despite Plutie's initial reaction of this new found feeling that is swirling inside her right now, she's beginning to understand the gravity of it.

"I-Isn't quite dangerous to confess to him while he's in a relationship. More over he's about to get married. ヽ(￣д￣;)ノ"

"Y-Yeah… b-but we would eventually have to c-confess to him right? So what should we do?" Noire asked uncertainly to the others.

The others think of a way. But with their heads filled with one thing, they wouldn't make any headway. They're lost to their own thoughts eventually. Until they noticed they're only thinking in circles. Or rather, not thinking much at all.

"L-Let's just cool off first… W-We won't get anywhere near the answer if we just think" Vert suggested.

"Y-You're right… and it's getting late as well…" Nepgear seconds the motion, and everyone stood up

"Alright… let's get upstairs and rest for now…" Noire said.

"Good night everyone" Plutie greeted everyone even though they are still in the first floor. Evident of the fact that they still couldn't think much after their revelation.


	68. Chapter 68

Chapter 68:

"Should I consider this as lady luck playing a hand in this, or should I constantly tell myself to forget what I just heard"

The problem is after I got the twerps, plus Neptune, to sleep, and by the way, the three kids are sleeping in our room, I forgot that I haven't taken my bath yet. We did ate then do that whole ghost story thing at the drop of Neptune's excitement meter going up. So, as I was about to head downstairs and give myself a quick wash at the hot spring. Well, let's just say that my sneaking skills have not deteriorated.

"Hmm… But still, it's comedic to see all 6 of them, including mini-Histy herself to be that flustered…"

Watching the beautiful mistress moon, above the night sky. I give her a good hard look. Gauging at it as if knowing its true intentions. Sigh, and I thought I'd survive this dimension, get married afterwards, without anyone developing more feelings for me. I can't actually help it since my actions produces as such.

"Rejection is a very heavy word…" it has a certain sting to it that you'll cringe at every time. I let more of my energy get sapped by the wonderful hot water of the hot spring.

"And since rejection can hurt a lot of people, especially in love, does that give us the excuse to love them all because you don't want to get them hurt?" the answer is no.

In love, when you love someone, you hurt the other. It takes a naïve person to think that your partners', take note: plural, happiness comes from you equally sharing your feelings. You cannot serve two masters at the same time. Although I would understand that others likes to have one, but really you're just splitting yourself and proving that you are a special kind of moron.

Sigh… being a passerby is a bitch sometimes. I'll just hope that all goes well, or we might have another cat fight in our hands again.

"...I'll see what I can do, and avoid another console war…" but first, I better get outta here and get some shut eye, who knows what we're going to do tomorrow morning.

* * *

"Let's go catch some fish!" Neptune announced.

"Well, as expected of Neptune…" so that's why she made me brought out the empty cooler. Figured as much…

"Wooh! Fish!"

"We're going to catch some fishys!"

"Mhm! It'll be really fun!"

The kids and Neptune all happily cheered at the thought of catching fish. Catching fish is a lot harder than you might think. Unless we're using a net, in which case we don't, the difficult level just spiked. And plus where's the boat that we're gonna be using?

"There's a boat over there that is so_ conveniently _placed by the shore" Neptune points to a small boat. Now she's a mind reader?

"Right… how convenient…" I doubt it was that convenient. Oh well…

"Hey, you guys! C'mon let's catch some awesome fishys at the sea!" Neptune invites the rest.

"W-Well, we would b-but…" Noire gave me look and blushed. Steam must have come out of her head, as if signaling a volcano's eruption.

"Eh? What's with that cold attitude? You don't wanna? It's fish we're talking about here"

"Sorry, Neppy…" Plutie apologized.

"…Can it, Neptune. We just don't feel like catching fish…" Blanc said. Avoiding eye contact with me.

"Guh, then I'll invite my lovely little Nep Jr.! Nep Jr., let's catch some fish!"

"N-Not today Sis…" her sister shyly answered. Giving me strange looks that are, well, strange.

"Not Nep Jr. too!" Neptune is shocked.

"Th-Then Vert…?"

"…As much as I want to, I can't…" why 'can't'?

"Hi-Histy?"

"…（/･_･/)" mini-Histy shook her head.

"Guuuuaaaah!" Neptune kneels as she is in disarray by the number declines.

"Fine! We'll go catch a bunch of fish with Jared!" Neptune stands up declared thus.

"…" All of them looked away…signaling that the initial epiphany hasn't died down yet.

"Nepu? Wh-what's up? A tummy ache? Ate too much clams last night?" Neptune asked. The 6 didn't answer her.

"C'mon, let's leave them be…" I pull Neptune by the hand along towards the boat, the kids follow behind me. And yes, I'm carrying the cooler with one hand which is heavy.

"Geez, what's with those folks. Their acting really, really weird. Like their all acting the embarrassed type of character!" maybe because they are all embarrassed.

"Well, I think I have an idea why…" I whisper and it's not just an idea though.

"C'mon get on this thing. We're going to catch some fish…"

Neptune plus the kids all eagerly climb on the boat. The boat is complete with oars so we're never too short of mobility. I put the cooler in, and push the boat towards the water. Then, I climb on as well, put the oars on their rowing station. And begin to row towards where my back is facing.

"Row~ Row~ Row~ Your boat gently down the stream~ Merrily~ Merrily~ Merrily~ Merrily~ Life is but a dream~!" they're aand we haven't even gotten far yet.

"Jared, what kinds of fish are we going to catch? The loch ness monster? The Kraken?" kid-Iffy asked.

"The Kraken? That big ol' oversized squid"

"Ooh! You know about the Kraken, huh?"

"Of course. Once upon a time, I once sailed a ship" I tell her a small thing about myself…

"A ship!?" seems she's interested on the subject.

"A ship!"

"H-Hey! Don't rock the boat, Neptune!" guess she overheard our conversation.

"What's that something I hear the Jared can sail a ship, and go 'yardiharhar'?"

"I actually sailed one. And Neptune's right on that last part I did sail as a pirate…"

"Wooah! A pirate!"

"What's a pie-ate?" kid-Compa asked.

"Pie? Where's the pie?" and Peahy is having a time picking up.

"Well, the way pirates were depicted on TV shows and pop culture is a little off than what you think. But I did became one…" I wait for Iffy to add to that sentence.

"Then, then, did you have a talking parrot over your shoulder?" see, she does interest in the weirdest things. It's good for a kid to do just do anything they want.

"A talking parrot sounds is so cool!" kid-Compa has quite the imagination.

"No…" actually the parrot thing were just souvenirs each time we visit a tropical island.

"Then did you have an eye patch?" Neptune asked.

"Yeah, the crew said I looked cool wearing it and it feels more pirate-eque" I said that for effect. The reason I wore an eye patch is because when you're in battle, you frantically go up and down the deck. The change in brightness between areas, keeps me at bay for few precious seconds. Hence, I use the patch to switch eyes between dark and light areas.

"Then did you find some buried treasure?" kid-Iffy questioned.

"Or maybe hidden foods!" Peashy has also quite the imagination.

"The only guy I know who buried their treasure was William Kidd on Long Island. And no, no hidden foods" the guy literally used it as a bargaining chip for his survival after he was captured. But still died and hanged.

"Then did you find his heap load of treasure?" Neptune asked.

"The guy didn't made it easy for me. Nope, not even a single dime…"

"Eh? But I'm sure Jared was really rich so why would he need some buried treasure?"

"You're right about that again Neptune. I'll give a pudding later. But anyway, I was part of Henry Every's crew…" and yes, _the _Every. The only pirate who retired successfully with a grand loot upon successful capture of _Ganj-i-sawai_. And believe me it was loaded… well, in all aspects of men's desire.

"Who's he? I only know the Black bearded dude…" Neptune said.

"Thatch? Fellow drinking partner during the time…" I miss how both of us would compete of how much rum we could drink before we pass out.

"The legendary Blackbeard! Th-Then he must be able to summon to control the Queen Ann's Revenge without touching it, right?" how in the heavens does she know that?

"Vrevenge?" it's funny how kid-Compa is so innocent.

"I didn't know that Thatch was wizard…" if it was true, then that's Thatch invented the autopilot.

"Okay I think we're pretty far out now…" I can still make out the other girls doing their own things at the beach side. I stop my rowing…

"Time to get us some fish… Don't rock the boat while I'm away alright?"

"Okay! We'll help Jared catch lots and lots of fishys!"

"Mhm! And we'll eat them all!"

"Hooh!" aren't they excited for fish.

"Okay, Neptune, give me a sword…" although it isn't practical to use a katana for fishing since it'll rust. But what can we do? I merely forgot to cut some wood and turn it into a stake.

I stand and Neptune's katana appeared before me. I catch it and place between my teeth. Giving the girls a peace sign, obviously I can't speak, I dive head first into the water.

"Good luck!" all four of them greeted.


	69. Chapter 69

Chapter 69:

For Nepgear, she had always loved robots. Tinkering with machines and exploiting their little secrets. As if searching for a treasure. When her big sis isn't playing with her, she'd play with her robots and other electrical objects. Stripping them away of their covers, learning how it works. A small fun but one she enjoys so much.

She often hears stories, of her sister and about a certain guy that she's been waiting for. Most of it, she didn't believe. Who would believe that someone who was presumably dead, came back to life as if it were nothing? Regardless her Sis talks about his other feats. IF, Compa, Histoire, of the other dimension not this one, talk about it too. And if almost everyone is talking about such a guy. Why did he disappear from out of nowhere?

Why did she leave her sister almost crying every night? That when there was a full moon, she would stare blankly at the ring on her finger. If his feats were amazing as they were told, why didn't he showed up when Sis and the rest were captured? She didn't really questioned much of the stories they were feeding her, she was questioning its authenticity.

"Oh… he's back…" Jared and the others are back from their fishing. Neptune and the kids are all smiling from their fun experience.

'_Sis' smile is so nice…_' she thought to herself.

Every time Neptune smile over at something fun, Nepgear would always notice a small flaw, like smiling hurts her a bit. It isn't something to see physically. She couldn't bring herself to know what the flaw is. But, with everyone else noticing it, they all just silently pet her.

As her little sister, she tried to see her smile with no flaws. So she always plays the role of being 'used' by her big sister. Doing stuff for her, letting her play her games while she does the work, letting her big sister be spoiled by her litter sister and a lot of stuff. But none of that worked. Her smile is cute, yes. But it's flawed. Not fake, but there is something 'missing'. And so she worked hard even more to try to see that…

* * *

"_You want to see Nep smile to her fullest?_" she had asked IF once.

"_Mhm, but most of the stuff I did for her is not working at all…_"

"_I see… But I don't think you can do that…_"

"_Why? Isn't there something I can do for her…?_"

"_Because only 'he' is able to do that…_"

" '_He?' You mean, Jared?_"

"_Yeah… Jared…_"

* * *

Him again? How many times has his name been brought up by those around her? But she shook those negative feelings off. If she didn't, she'd be in a bad spot with her big Sister. And if that were the case, then she would wait for him along with her big sis.

When she laid her eyes on him for the first time. There was this certain tick. It was like from the moment she saw, Nepgear knew, that this person, was what her Sis was waiting for all this time. And when he asked about her, she just knew. But how? She doesn't know…

And when they met, her Sis and him. It was like all her small sadness in her was banished. She know that when her big sister sees him within her perimeter, she knows that her sister's heart would flutter in joy. She knows, because they're sisters after all.

The next days, and the days spent in this dimension. She unconsciously observed him, and to her surprise, those stories were off by a huge mile. He was better. Not only was he capable of doing absolutely anything, but her Sis, her lovely, adorable Sis, made her smile with no 'flaws'. Something that she couldn't do…

A guy who keeps telling everyone that he's just a passerby. Who knew that those stories were somewhat inferior to what she was seeing. Maybe that was when she felt something towards him. Jealousy? No. But a sense of possession. Yearning? Probably. Then is it actually right to 'yearn' for someone who has another person by his side. More importantly it was her Big Sis' that he is yearning for.

But as time goes on spending time with him, she slowly starts to get a bit closer to him. A strange feeling was curling inside as she spent her fun filled days with him being as her friend. He's kind and concerning and honest. He cooks meals that are quite exciting. He also treats the kids well, as if he was really a dad. That 'yearning' became have grown mature unbeknownst of her. And it was only last night it turned out to be, not 'yearning'…

But love. The type of love for a significant other…

* * *

"*Sigh*… it's going to be really tough…"

"What's tough?"

"Kyaah!"

Putting down the cooler under the shade of the umbrella, Nepgear reacts to me quite strongly. I mean, am I the kind that you have to be surprised for every time? Well, I do know why actually. Looking around, I see that the rest of the girls are playing beach volleyball.

"Jared! Get to it already, we want you to cook the fish that we caught!" Neptune shouted.

"Cook! Cook! Cook!" the three kids cheered.

"I think we caught a bunch of _Ommastrephes bartramii_" unfortunately the fish, _Pomatomus saltatrix_, was nimble as hell. Catching one wouldn't let me catch the other. Plus the one I caught was small so I had to let it go. And since I found some squid right at sea floor, why the hell not.

"Ommas-What? Meh, it's called a squid, right? Why does it have a long name? Are you gonna keep one as a pet?"

"No... it'd be terrible to have one. And we're just going to do a simple calamari for lunch"

"What's calamari?" kid-Iffy asked.

"It's fried squid. One of your favorites. You said that its food brought down from the heavens, right?" I remembered that her eyes sparkled when she ate one.

"Ooh! The food for the gods! I can't wait!"

"Well, lunch is a bit away. So play for now"

"Okay! Compa, Peashy! Let's make another sandcastle!"

"Okay!"

"W-Wait for me!" the three ran off.

"Guh… I'm thirsty~~!" Neptune said as she sat next to Nepgear.

"Nice. Now I have an excuse to get those green coconuts..." I look at the nearest coconut palm tree. Those coconuts are really tempting to get.

"D-Don't tell me I have to fly right? I don't wanna we're on vacation and all..."

"Well, I can just climb. Not a problem for me…"

"Eeh? Aren't you tired from swimming to get those squids?"

"I am. But since I'm parched as well, nothing can stop a tired man from getting his refreshments…" that is true…

"Th-Then, I-I'll do it!" hm? Looking, Nepgear is standing and looking at us intently. Well, I can't go deny someone who's this determined. Well, it'll probably hurt her if I did.

"Knock on the young coconut and hear if it's a bit hollow inside with some water sloshed around. That'll be the freshest one"

"Okay…" transforming she headed towards the coconuts growing.


	70. Chapter 70

Chapter 70:

"*Gulp!* *Gulp!* *Gulp!*… Aah! These coconut juices are great!" Neptune says her delight.

"Yup, it feels absolutely refreshing"

*THONK!*

Upon knocking our fresh young coconuts together, we tilt the hole I made with Neptune's sword towards our mouths and fresh coconut juice comes pouring out. Nepgear and the kids also have their share, which the kids enjoy but I don't know why Nepgear has a look of someone who was deprived of her summer vacation. Guess she has a lot to think about, an awful lot to think about.

The other 5 are still playing, most probably to distract themselves. So I made sure I saved some for them.

"Jar-Jar, what's this white thing inside?" kid-Compa asked. Sticking out her young coconut towards me.

"It's called coconut meat. Give it here…" I put down my own coconut on the sand as I take hers.

"Neptune, can I borrow your sword again?"

"Sure!" a sword appears, and I catch it.

Settling the young coconut, I chop it vertically revealing its husk and its coconut meat inside. I should have used my brute strength to open it, but I prefer something cleaner today. Then taking my own young coconut, I cut off a piece of its husk and smoothen out the edge.

"Here, you can scoop it out with this piece…" I handed to her the make-shift scoop and the chopped coconut to her.

With caution, she took the two objects. She takes the make-shift scoop and cautiously scoop off the coconut meat. Everyone, except for Nepgear, stared at Compa. What's with the anticipated atmosphere looming around her?

Kid-Compa carefully guides her hand towards her mouth. She opens up her mouth and guides the white meat inside. She sealed her lips after her make-shift scoop pulled away. A heavy silence have befallen and we watch Compa's reaction. Again, what with the unnecessary atmosphere?

"Aaah~~…!" kid-Compa's face is in bliss. Like she saw the stair way to heaven.

"It's so tasty and soft and squishy..."

"Ooh! I want to have some of that too!" Neptune summoned her own sword.

"Um, Neptune, do that and all the water will come spilling out…" Neptune starts to swing her sword towards the young coconut. And she's not listening to me…

*THOK!*

With Neptune's sword having dug deep on the side, the fresh juice inside came spilling out all at once resulting in emptying the contents but the meat. She looks to me as if almost crying…

"J-Jareed…"

"I told you so…" sheesh, this woman can be a pain in the head sometimes. In a good way, mind you.

"The juice is all gone…"

"I know. Here, drink up mine. I can use yours to get the meat" I offer my coconut to Neptune.

"Eeh? But don't you want more?"

"I've drank enough. And besides, the sheer size of my coconut suggests that it still has more juice inside"

"Okay, I'll drink yours all up! *Gulp!* *Gulp!* *Gulp!* *Gulp!*…Aaah!"

"…" I swear, there were literally 4 more glasses inside that thing. And adding to what Neptune drank I'm surprised that she hasn't puked out all that liquid yet.

"Jaweed! Ours too!" Peashy said.

"We want to eat what Compa eats!" kid-Iffy said.

"Here Jared, get choppin'!"

"Fine…"

I chopped up 4 of the young coconuts and also made 4 separate make-shift scoops from the sides of each husk. They get their own share and all 4 of us started eating our fresh coconut meat. Aah, gotta love those calcium that is contained in these.

"Mm! They're so tasty!"

"Mhm! It's food that came from the goddess of coconut herself!"

"Ooh! But she's a coconut? Can I eat her?"

"Silly, Pea-Pea! You don't eat goddesses!"

"But she's a coconut, right?" is she still confused?

"Hm? Hey Nepgear, want me to cut yours too?" Nepgear has been spacing out.

"Eeh!? C-C-C-C-cut!?" she became red all over.

"Here… let me have that…" Nepgear nervously reached her coconut to me. As I about to take the coconut off her, I felt skin touching the tip of my index finger.

"Kyaah!"

*THONK!*

"…" oww…

"I-I'm sorry!" Nepgear apologized.

"It's fine… I understand, really…" Sigh, siblings they are, I'm kinda reminded how Iffy reacted, though never this extreme.

Due to the sudden jerk of her hand. The young coconut flies off towards my head. You would wonder how ungraceful it flew towards my head like that. Then, I feel that someone is taking it off and petting the spot where it got hit.

"There, there. Pain, pain go away~~!" Neptune chanted.

"Pain, pain go away~~!" kid-Compa helps Neptune out.

"I'm not a kid…"

"…"

"Hmhm feel the power of a girl's magic level 1!"

"Level 1, huh… I'm excited for level 2…" I said as I stand up. I pet Neptune's head in return of her magic.

"Hmhmm… Ehe…" a smile from her.

"…"

"Well, since I have enough energy to swim again. Want to have some fun and get to look at some nice looking reefs? I found some while I was catching some…" I ask Neptune.

"Nah. I'm a bit tired, I want to eat these little white meat for a while longer"

"You're sure taking your time"

"Mhm! Because they're so tasty and soft!"

"Right… Hey, you three. Want to see something cool under the water?"

"Something cool? Sure!" kid-Iffy and Compa agreed.

"Is it something that's cooler than the coconut white thing?"

"Probably… get on that boat. We're going to look at reefs now…"

"Okaaaaay!" the three moves along.

"We're going now, Neptune"

"Kaay! Bring back some more fish okay!"

"I'll give you a sword-fish if I ever see one" that would be good for her repertoire.

* * *

Jared runs off towards the boat. With the kids having climbed on, he pushed the boat into the water once more. He climb on to it, and started rowing as the kids cheer once more, hymning a children song that they learned from him.

"Aah… there they go… now I miss him already…" Neptune said as she sat beside Nepgear under the shade of the umbrella.

Unbeknownst to her Nepgear is still recovering from her shock of feeling Jared's skin. It wasn't the first time that they have brushed skins before. But it was the first time that she was very overly conscious of it. As if, her mind will register immediately if anything is involved with him.

'_Uwaaah… W-Why is my heart beating so fast!? Wh-When I think about it I was just touching his finger the..!_' if one were to look at her now, they'd conclude that smoke is coming out of her head.

"Hey, Nep Jr., Gamindustri to Nep. Jr? What's wrong with you lately? You're like a worn out chicken…"

"Ah, ah… it's nothing Sis! Ahahaha…"

"Really? Oh well… Uugh, I really miss Jared now…" Neptune's like this of course. Not seeing Jared within her sight makes her miss him. Of course, to calm her down, her husband-to-be always tells her if his going off somewhere.

Upon hearing her Big sister's words, a lightbulb popped out on top of Nepgear's head.

"S-sis… T-Tell me, what is it like to l-l-love someone?"

"Hrr? Mmmm…." Neptune crossed her arms and thinks deeply.

"Dunno!" she answered wholeheartedly.

"Eh? B-But, you two are always together, right?"

"Yeah… well so… I dunno really… Ahahaha…"

This answer confused much of Nepgear's thoughts. Of course, she considered that this is her Big Sister we are talking about. Almost infamous to half-hearted answers and pudding analogies. But it is also her the reason why she is her Big Sister that she knows when her answers is half-hearted or not.

"Oh!" Neptune seems to remember something.

"…Hmmm, maybe doing things for your lover...? Maybe?" she cocks her head in question. It's funny how she is finding the words to the question.

"Doing things for the other?"

"Mhm! If you like someone you get to do all sorts of things for your lover, right? All sorts of stuff that would make him happy…"

"…I see… that's very informative… (-_-;)"

"…Could you tell us some more?"

"Neppy is so reliable!"

"Nepu! When did you guys get here?"

The other 5 girls, including the fairy, have also joined unsuspectedly on the conversation.

"H-Hey, c'mon keep talking. W-We're interested…" Noire asked in a red face.

"Eh? Eh? What's with this sudden interest about love, Noirey? You don't have any friends but you like someone?"

"Geez! Stop calling me that! And I-I-I-I'm not in l-love or a-a-anything like that!" the usual Noire attitude.

"Now, now. We're on the same boat. C'mon Neptune, tell us about love some more" Vert urges.

"Eeh? I don't like this feeling… Like its sinister or something…" Neptune's suspicion rises.

"…We'll give treat you to pudding…" Blanc offered.

"Well then, love is…"


	71. Chapter 71

Chapter 71:

It's amazing how her Big Sister has 'grown' without her knowledge. Despite her attitude towards work, her 'always play' policy to herself, never taking things seriously, and lazing around all the freakin' time. Despite all those things, she's surprised how much she's taking their relationship seriously beneath the surface of things. It's surprising to the 6 that their relationship were fathomless.

"There, I'm all done! Man, talking so much makes me hungry now…" Neptune announced as she ends her discussion about love.

"…He's back anyways so why don't you go tell him to make lunch now..." Blanc said.

"Ooh! You're right, and he got some fish too!" Neptune stands and run towards him.

"…I didn't thought that Neptune was quite mature about that…" Blanc said her surprise

"Yeah…" Nepgear nods.

'_Doing things for the one you like, huh?_'

Nepgear thinks it through. She knows she like Jared. She knows that she wants Jared to know of her feelings. And if it's also a part of doing things for the one you like, then she'll do it. But, she's hesitating. Why? Because she has her sister with him. She knows it would be bad, as if she's doing some sort of taboo.

'_Doing things for the one you like_'

But what about her own feelings? What about her own desires? She's always been the 2nd placer in most of her Big sister's fun. She's always been the 'support' for her. She's always done most of her sister's hard work. Isn't it about time for her own happiness? Wasn't it time for her to find something that would make her smile like her sister does? And not just to tinker with electronics…

"*Sigh*…" the answer to those was only a sigh. Because even now, when she looks at her sister having fun with him. It just greatly reminds her, that it'll be a long time before she find her own happiness.

* * *

"Let's get some fireworks happening!"

"Haa?"

It's already night time when Neptune declared thee. Up until now, I've been staring at fire doing nothing but observe how the firewood turns into carbon monoxide. Oh so that's where she got the idea of fireworks.

"Listen up! This is the last night we're going to be on the beach so let's our last night a blast, literally!"

"Please don't make it sound like you're going to smuggle in trinitrotoluene…" I really don't want to go through the trouble of dealing with one.

"…Well, I think it would be fun…" Blanc said. Which she is relatively far away from us.

"Mhm, I agree…" Vert agreed.

"It would keep us from our thoughts as well. (⌒▽⌒) "

"Fireworks are so colorful!"

"Mhm, it'll probably take our minds from a lot of things" Noire said.

"I agree. But where are we going to get the fireworks, Sis…"

"Hmhmm… Don't worry about that! I've brought a bunch of them while no one was looking!"

"You actually smuggled some…" I'm surprised that Neptune even did that. She could have asked me to be a part of the crime as well. Then we'd get double of the amount of fireworks… what in gawd's name am I thinking?

"Then let's get some fireworks started!" Neptune cheered.

"I'll prepare a bucket of water. Kiddies help Neptune get the fireworks"

* * *

"Kaaay!"

"Kyaaaa! Don't shoot me with those! ε=ε=(怒ﾟДﾟ)ﾉ"

"Plutie hurry! The fairy is getting away!"

*PEW!* *PEW!* *PEW!*

"Histy! Don't run away!"

*PEW!* *PEW!* *PEW!*

"You're shooting at me so I have to! ε=ε=(っ*´□`)っ"

"I'll cleanse you with the fires of destruction! Kyaa!"

*SPARK!* *SPARK!* *SPARK*

"Magical girl Compa here I come!"

*SPARK!* *SPARK!* *SPARK*

"Guuh! You're powers have increased magical girl, but you didn't expect this!"

*SPARK!* *SPARK!* *SPARK*

Everyone enjoys their own fireworks. Neptune and Plutie are chasing around Histy each with a pair of roman candles. The kids are playing their own thing, some sort of magical girls and whatnot, each dangling their sparklers, which I told not that they have to be an arm away from themselves and from other people. Vert, Noire and Blanc enjoy themselves at the lit fountain.

Nepgear and I are apparently, almost too conveniently, setting up the 'big guns' that Neptune have successfully smuggled through our travel. It involves repeaters, aerial shells, firework mines, and display tubes. And she even bought a fuse wire so long that you might think that she wants to turn this into a professional fireworks show.

"Hmm… This should go here, since it would take 20 seconds after this… and that..." and as you can see I'm taking this very seriously. Such is a life of a passerby.

"…There, I think this should do… What do you think?"

"Ah, um, y-yeah! It's great!" Hmm... I'll keep my suspicions low for now…

"Jared! Is it ready yet?" Neptune asked.

"Not yet, I've got to do a little positioning first…"

"Eeh? Can't you just make everything go all boom in one go?"

"It'll turn into a freakin' fireball. And besides, you'll enjoy this night show"

"Ooh! I can't wait for Jared's special fireworks!"

"Neppy! Histy is getting farther and farther away!"

"Nepu! Don't let her run Plutie!" and she runs off once more.

"*Sigh*… I can never guess if Neptune is childlike or just having too much energy…" well, it's funny really.

"Ah… um… Jared…"

"Hmm?" I look at Nepgear.

"C-Can you come with m-me?" hmm… I see…

"Yeah, sure…"

Nepgear leads the way, away from the firework festivities. We walk along the beach which are sparkling with stars and is shining against the moonlight. A tranquil sea wind blows that makes the waves tries hard to reach us. Nepgear's footing is uncertain, I can tell from the footprints she's leaving behind. Her head is down and as if searching for the right words to say. And when she did, she stopped and started to talk.

"You know, I'm kinda jealous of my big sister a lot…" I remain quiet.

"She's always been doing the fun things, playing with her games, while I do some work as a Candidate and her share of the work. Like a supporting character…"

"Somehow, being in the supporting character fits me…"

"Sis would always play with me, so I'm kinda happy. I mean, I love my Big silly Sis a lot…"

"When we had time, I'll put up with her silliness and try to have fun myself. But I always know that I'll get the short end of the stick. But I put up with it…"

"There was a time that I was in the spotlight…" and so I have read…

"I get to do all sorts of amazing stuff and meet all sorts of people. I was having a lot of fun…"

"And when me and my got on the spotlight. I slowly go back to my usual position as a supporting character…"

"I mean, we're sisters and all, so why aren't I in the spotlight with her? Why is my Big sister slowly drifting away as I just support her?"

"I see…" so that's Nepgear's complexity. She wants to break free of those shackles called being the dependent type; the supporting character. She wants to be on her own spotlight. Where she would feel like she's on top of the world. Where all eyes are on her. But, as long as her sister is there on the spotlight still, she'll slowly lift her sister up, in exchange for her to be pushed down.

"*Sigh*…" sisters indeed…

"You are the main character…" I started talking.

"Eh?" she turns to me.

"The star at the center of your own unfolding story. You're surrounded by your supporting casts: family and friends hanging around your immediate orbit" I look beyond the starry skies…

"Scattered a little further out, a network of acquaintances who drift in and out of contact over the years" I can feel Nepgear's eyes to me.

"But in the background, faint and ambiguous , are the extras. The random passersby. Each living a life as vivid and complex as your own" like the faint smaller stars…

"They carry on invisibly around you, bearing the accumulated weight of their own ambitions, friends, routines, mistakes, worries, triumphs and inherited craziness"

"When your life moves on to the next scene, theirs flickers in place, wrapped in a cloud of back story and inside jokes and characters strung together with countless other stories you'll never be able to see; that you'll never know exists..." I end it there.

"Th-That's…"

"Remember, we each have a story to tell. Like a piece of painting on a canvas. Supporting characters, passersby. Each of those people, lives a life of epic and tragedy. Continuing to add more vivid colors in the painting. Ain't that right..." I put it in simple terms for her. She should know, even people in the spotlight are also supporting characters of another.

"…Mhm…" I can feel a relieved tone in her answer. Like I have unlocked something inside her.

"…Glad you enjoyed it…"

"..I knew it… you really are an amazing person"

"I'm a passerby after all…" my usual line.

"I'm glad my sister is going to marry a guy like you…" she smiles for me as well as for her sister.

"Jared…"

"Yeah?" this time, beneath those lilac eyes that closely resembles to her Big sister, is steeled conviction.

"…I love you…"


	72. Chapter 72

Chapter 72:

"…I love you…"

Getting confessed to, are one of men's many dreams. Don't think you are popular with the ladies, but think that you're deeds have warranted such affections from them. If not anything else, it is quite an honor indeed to be liked on a more heartfelt level. So be gracious of a woman's feelings to you. A

"Thanks… I appreciate it…"

Silence looms over us. A deafening silence as she waits for more of my response. If I respond some more, this will turn into even more of a complication for her. Love can be a terrible mistress at times, forcing one to go into a loop, adding more confusion and misunderstandings with each repitition.

As the silence continues to grow longer and longer. A gush of wind flew from the sea, as if it were comforting her. Nepgear pulled her head out of her pondering. As if she had made a lifelong decision. As if knowing what to do of her ever beating heart.

"…I lost..."

"…" I don't answer. But her voice sounds as if she had made a breakthrough.

"…Ehe, I guess, there's always gonna be a time where I get lucky…"

"…Hmm… There is… if 'the world' permits it and you wish for it hard enough, then I guess you can get lucky next time…"

"Wish… Then, can I wish of something…" a request.

"I'm very expensive you know" I guess I can give her this one.

"C-Can I call you Big Brother from now on?"

"Big brother, eh… because I'm getting married with your Big sis?"

"Hmhmm…" she shakes her head.

"Because, even if you can't put me in the same spot as Sis, I can still put you in a very special part of me…" a firm answer. An answer than she had thought through…

"I see… Fine, call me Big asshole when you get the chance as well" I am really going to get an earful from Neptune. A woman's jealousy can be very, very troublesome…

"C'mon, Nepgear. We've been out here for quite a time…"

"Mhm! Let's go back Big Brother!"

* * *

"Where have you been? I was starting to miss you…" Neptune said as she approached me from a fair distance away from the festivities.

"Don't you always miss me?" I pet her head.

"Mhm! After all, I always have to keep an eye out for my man! And speaking of which…" she peeks behind me.

"What are you doing with my Nep Jr.?! You cheater! Bully!" she lightly punches me on the chest.

"We just talked, I swear…"

"Y-yeah Sis, big brother and I just talked…" great that your making things more gruesome, Nepgear.

"Big Brother? Big Brother…? Ne-Neeppuuu! What did you taint my little sister with!?" she's really not angry, right?

"Whatever you are thinking right now, float it out into the sea. And that was part of what we talked about…"

"Eeh? Tell me, this talk that made her call you Big Brother…" I guess, I can't get out of the woods with this one.

"Basically, she wanted to ask if us taking care of children and all was getting in the way of our relationship. Being the worrisome, dependable Nepgear as she is, I told her its fine. Then, she remembered since you and I are getting married, she decided to call me Big Brother since I'll be her soon to be brother-in-law" a half-lie, half-truth. Confessions are private things after all, so we're just going keep it a secret from her for now. Note, 'for now'.

"Mhm, that's basically it, Sis…" Nepgear backs me up.

"Eeeh? Really…" now she's going for the monotone method. If I let this slide, her suspicion would worsen, better to get her to understand right now.

"*Sigh*… Here..."

"Nepu…?" I pull Neptune towards my chest and wrap my arms around her. She doesn't struggle, she instead returns the hug. I wanted to kiss her, but I'll do that when we get back into our room.

"See…? My heart is still in the right place… So don't worry about me ever cheating… I did made a promise that one time, right?"

"Mhm, I know..." we both let go. And with each inch of a distance, my chest feels a tad lonelier.

"C'mon, let's go back and fire up those suckers!" holding my hand tightly, she leads towards the firework festivities.

* * *

"Jared! Let's get the fireworks started!"

"Jar-Jar make them all go boom now!"

"Okay, okay, don't pull. You'll rip my arm out…" the kids all ran to me and started to pull me.

"Neptuna! Neptuna! Let's make Neptuna go boom!" Peashy demanded.

"Why are you making me turn into countless rings like that blue dude!?"

Taking me towards the pyro works that I set up. I find the fuse wire which I had painstakingly placed them into length, and coiled them into one single wire. Taking out the lighter from my pocket, I light up the fuse and watch as the small fire slowly rushes towards the fireworks.

"Wooh, even the fuse is really excited to give us a show, huh…" Neptune said.

"Fireworks are sooo exciting! Do you like fireworks, Blanny?" Plutie said.

"…I like them a lot… But they can be really annoying…"

"Why? Don't you think fireworks are cool?"

"…Lowee has way too much festivals to celebrate… And it's a custom to launch fireworks…"

"I heard that fireworks makes evil spirits run away…" Vert said. Surprised she even knows that.

"I wonder if fireworks works the same for laziness. (-᷅_-᷄๑)"

"I wonder if it's alright to light up one here…" Nepgear wondered.

"Why?" Noire asked.

"Well, the wind is really starting to pick up…"

Just then, a small gust of wind blows through, it is spring and I can get that. But just as it does, all the fireworks paraphernalia have tumbled down and are pointing their hollow barrels towards us. Just as the fire from the fuse reached them.

"Well fuck me gently…" you just have to say it didn't you…

*PEW!* *PEW!* *PEW!*

*BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!*

"NEPUUUU! WHY ARE THE FIREWORKS ATTACKING US ALL OF A SUDDEN?!"

"WHY ARE YOU ASKING ME?! WHOAH!" I ducked from a display tube's lit aerial shell. I can still feel the heat.

"GEEZ, I THOUGHT THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE FUN!?" Noire complains.

"I THINK IT'S WISE TO RUN THAN COMPLAIN! KYAAH!" Vert said, as a shell near misses her.

From what you have probably guessed, all of us are running away. This isn't really the fireworks that I have in mind. I was expecting more of a scene where we'd watch lights flare up in the sky and .And these shells are freaking chasing us. Does fireworks have homing devices now?

*BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!*

"…GRRAAH! WHY ARE THERE SO DAMN MANY!?" Blanc complains.

"KYAAH! RUN COMPA, PEASHY! OR THE EVIL CONGEREMATE WILL SWALLOW US WHOLE!?" kid-Iffy yells.

"I-I'm trying…!"

"Aha, this is so fun!"

*PEW!* *PEW!* *PEW!*

*BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!*

"Uwaaaah! Fireworks are so scary…!" Plutie have now have a second opinion on fireworks.

"GOODNESS! I CAN'T DODGE THEM ALL! OH NO, MY SKIRT!" Nepgear's skirt is now on fire.

*PEW!* *PEW!* *PEW!*

*BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!*

"UWAAA! Why are they following me!? (c=(c=(c=(c=(ﾟﾛﾟ;c="

Looking back, it seems like these fireworks won't stop firing at us. It's as if it's taking revenge because we burned their little siblings first before them. What? Do they have inferiority complex now? I mean, they are safer to use than that exploding crap that makes you want to sprawl to the ground and duck for cover.

Just as I thought about that, it seems, all of the flying shells, which were flying randomly up until now, seemed to have changed directions and is now homing in on its selected target. It flies towards us with speed of a fly that found a good host to live.

"NEEPPUUU!"

"SHEEEEEEEET!"

*BOOM!*


	73. Chapter 73

Chapter 73:

"Nepu… Zzz… Nepu…"

"Hmm…"

Upon waking to our last day at the beach, the first thing I see in the morning is Neptune's sleeping face. Of course staring at her downright cute face, makes me stare some more. As though looking at a painting and I'm the painter. Her lips are slightly agape as she slumbers peacefully. Her breathing are in rhythm as if singing in tune. Hmm… She is absolutely cute… Can't say I have enough of her, honestly.

So, taking her waist I pull her in until out of pure instinct, she hugs me back. Her head is on my chest, giving me comfort as if it was a pillow tailored towards only to me. The smell of her shampoo is really intoxicating.

"Hrr…? Jared? Ehehe… It's Jared! Good morning!" upon waking, Neptune cuddles under me.

"Yeah, morning…" I pet her head as she cuddles some more, while I move my head away.

"Why'd ya move your head?"

"I might have bad breath…" morning breaths are sometimes bad.

"I don't mind, Jared's breath is tasty, like pudding"

"Really...? Can't say I believe you…"

"Ehehe… I love Jared no matter if he smells or not!"

"I love you too… Want to cuddle some more or do you want to eat?"

"Hmmm… I want to eat Jared!" she looks up to me cheerily.

"That sounds suggestive" of course, I know what she meant other than sex.

I pull Neptune in, slowly closing the distance between our lips. Her lips are so puckered up that's it's comedic at the same time enticing. As if as though it naturally pulling my heartstrings.

"…Mm… Mmm… *Smack*…Nm…"

"Haa… Nm…*Slurp*… Mm… Ja…*Smack!* *Kiss*...Mmm…"

No matter how many times we have kissed. Tasted each other's lips more than enough times. Neptune's lips still taste like pudding. Custard pudding to be more exact. Even now, it taste sweet and soft all the time, like her favorite dessert.

"*Smack!* *Kiss*… Mm… *Kiss*… I love you so much… Ahmpf…*Smack*"

"Nn… mmm… *Kiss*… Nn, mnn *Kiss* *Smack*…mmn, fwah…"

Pulling back, I brush the hair on her forehead and give it a quick kiss.

"…Good morning Neptune…" I greeted her after.

"Good morning!" and she responds by giving me her signature smile.

* * *

"Oh, Big Brother, Sis. Morning"

"Morning Nepgear"

Upon down the stairs, we're met with Nepgear wearing a pink apron and knife. She gave Neptune and I her morning smile. One that would make most guys fall left and right once they've bear witnessed to it. But, her holding a knife along with that smile of hers makes me think of morbid disturbing things. Such as a blood scenery with a bright cheery smile. Disturbing indeed.

"So… who's the target?"

"Eh?"

"You're holding a knife so early in the morning… If your target is a big burly man, it's easier to wear him out. Especially in the knees..." I give her a tip.

"Um… No, I was cutting some tomatoes…"

"Oh… damn me and my imaginations…" they really jump to conclusions sometimes.

"So whatcha making my dear littler sister?"

"I'm frying up some milkfish that big brother caught yesterday and scrambled egg with tomatoes" she answered cheerily. I didn't know that we had eggs… maybe she bought some from some store nearby.

"Ooh, Nep Jr's special scrambled eggs are the best!"

"Well, I can't really rival's Big Brother's cooking though…"

"C'mon, I told you, I'm a fan of homemade cooking. I prefer the clumsy cooking of home" it's a strange taste I know.

"Mhm, mhm! So go get 'em eggs Nep Jr.!"

"Mhm!" she proceeds to refrigerator and got 4 eggs from it.

"Want us to help?"

"Hmhmm… Let a girl do her thing, Big Brother…"

"Sure… I suppose I could take it easy…" well she is offering so why the hell not.

With Neptune sitting on the couch, I take a sit beside her.

"Today's the last day of the beach…"

"What are you getting all melancholic for?"

"Well it's kinda sad, you know… We're always playing around, but then something really, really bad happens and all the fun will blow away like how I eat pudding…"

"I see…" it's always like that though.

"Well, have you heard about equivalent exchange?"

"Oh, I know that, it's from the red shorty dude that can make things happen with a clap of his hands!"

"Well, yeah. I suppose…" I have absolutely no idea what she just said.

"You know about the saying that 'everything's have a price', right? And often people say that you can't 'buy love with money' since people often take it seriously"

"Um… I don't know…" I really got to say this, but is she living under a pudding?

"C'mon Jared, just make it easy! No one understands what you're saying anyways!" that's hurts! It breaks my heart!

"What I mean to say is… you've got to take the good with bad as well in vice versa"

"So… you mean… eat bad pudding while I eat my favorite?" when did this conversation steered towards pudding references now?

"It's more like… you like eating pudding so much that you ate them all in one bite never got to savor the taste… sucks right?"

"Yeah, I feel those kinds of moments…"

"That's what I'm getting at… You can't be happy the next time, if you don't pay the price of unhappiness this time. That's how 'the world' works… sometimes…" I mumble that last part.

"Eeh, that doesn't sound fun at all…"

"Sorry for that, didn't mean to kill the mood there…" it really doesn't sound fun. But it does holds true for me.

"Mhm, it's okay! If it comes to that point, I'll just hug you until I won't feel unhappy again" she cuddles to me.

"R~~ight… Well, that works as well…" her cuddling to me, makes me think that she is perfect to be some sort of pet.

"Big Brother! Sis! Breakfast is ready!" Nepgear called out. Looking, the table has already been set without me noticing.

"*Sniff!* *Sniff!*…The smell of food! I'm hungry!" Neptune can a good puppy.

"I'll go call the others" Nepgear announced as she takes off her apron and headed upstairs.

"…Hrm… I think I brought some coffee sachets, I'll go make some… want some coffee Neptune?"

"Mhm!"

* * *

"I see, that you guys had fun!"

"Yeah… Thank you for letting us stay here…" he gave her back the keys.

After eating breakfast, we all had agreed to clean up the vacation home that they have rented. The cleaning took about a roughly an hour, due to the amount hands that are helping. I, still carrying the cooler, is talking to the owner before we leave.

"And I'm willing to bet that you were surprised about the hot spring, right?"

"Well, yes. Was that actually deliberate?"

"Haha, yeah. It was a mistake in the past to forget and include the hot spring when I made the brochure"

"I see…"

"Well, let's not dally. The actual price for the rent is about 6,000 credits…"

"That's quite a lot… Can't you bring down the price?" c'mon, 6,000 credits for 3 days and 2 nights of stay. That's too much.

"How about 5, 5?"

"5"

"5, 2"

"Great, 5 it is…" putting down the cooler, I take my wallet from my pocket and brought out 5,000 credits. I gave it to the owner.

"Cheapskate. C'mon give me the 2…" the owner insisted.

"Alright, alright. Here… 5, 2"

"Well, thank for letting us rent the place" picking up the cooler, I turned my back and headed to the other girls that are waiting for him.

"Are you girls ready? It's not exactly a short walk to Planeptune…"

"Hooo!" the kids raised their fists and cheered.

"Mhm, let's go back home…" Plutie said.

"Let's go home…(*⌒∇⌒*)"

"…I'm getting tired…" Blanc said.

"As sad as it is, nothing's better than home" Vert added.

"It was fun while it lasted" Noire said.

"We're all set Big Brother!"

"C'mon Jared, let's take the helm and set sail to Planeptune!"

"Let's go…"

We begin the walk home…


	74. Chapter 74

Chapter 74:

"Hmm… I don't know which shampoo I should buy…" Noire ponders on the heaps of shampoo lined up. For a girl, finding the right shampoo, is essential. It's like finding your perfect match.

"Hmm… Oh, that looks good…" looking at the top most shelf, she found a very appealing shampoo.

"Hnnng~~!... Nnng~~!" she tries to reach for it, but it's too high. Her fingertips barely even touching it.

"Nnng~~!... Nnng~~! I can…~~!" she tries to reach in.

"You know, you should really cry for help when you need too…"

"Eh?"

Then, somebody grabs Noires hips. She pulled in by this someone until she can feel this someone's body temperature. That someone reached for the shampoo that she was targeting, of course, with a bit of tip lifting himself.

"What?" he looks at her in abrupt confusion.

"Eh… Um…" Noire's feels her face is burning up. He's so close to her, that she can't help being conscious of it.

'_Wha-Wha-Wha-Wha! Wh-What should I do!? H-H-H-H-H-He's s-s-s-so close!_'

"Ah, I see… So that's what you want…" he started moving closer.

_'W-W-W-Wait! W-W-W-W-Why are you moving closer!?'_

He still moves closer, not minding Noire's red face.

_'N-N-N-N-NO! WAIT, WHY ARE YOU EVEN MOVING CLOSER! I-IS THIS WHAT I THINK THIS IS!?'_

Despite Noire panicking inside her head. He still moves closer to her, closing in the gap between their lips.

'_W-WAIT! M-M-MY HEART ISN'T-!_'

Her thoughts hadn't finished when their li-!

* * *

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Noire woke up screaming against the silent night.

"_haa… haa… _It was just a dream…" looking outside her window. She sees a Lastation's lights in all of its glory beaming. This time, she doesn't have the time to over exaggerate how awesome her country is.

"_haa… haa… _Why…" she falls back on her bed and hugs the pillow beside her tightly.

"…Why do l like him so much… that it hurts…?" she holds her beating chest.

Looking around on the still night room of her office/bedroom. The digital clock, displayed on her table says 3:00 AM. A bit of a long ways before her usual duties as Lastation's goddess, but given that she's fully awake, she hopped out of the bed and headed to her work table.

She sits on her chair, still wearing her nightingale, without doing much of anything. She stares blankly at the monitors of her computer terminal. She spun around, as if waiting for something to happen. The digital clock added a minute to her unproductive state. Thinking that she couldn't take the absolute silence other than the slight squeaking of her chair. She presses a button on her keyboard and her monitors comes into life.

After she got to the desktop, she navigates with blank interests on her computer. Opening and closing folders and files. Every now and then, she'd open a document and pretend to herself that she's taken an interest in it. Of course, she'd close it after a second or two. Browsing through the internet is also not giving her any life.

She continues to mindlessly point and click wherever her hand takes her. Then she opened up a folder containing countless photos. These photos are her cosplaying. From nurses to maid uniforms to magical school girl, anything that she could cosplay from pop culture she'd do it.

She never really knew when she started cosplaying. She loves is as a passion, and a hobby. But her reasons for cosplaying never really surfaced. Maybe she wants to be noticed? But the thought of it was too embarrassing.

"…Ah… I really do look cute in those…" deep within her hard drive, was a photo so long ago. That she thought she had deleted it. It was just her and Plutia, wearing their school uniform of their target school. It wasn't anything special. Nor does it have the designs that she grew fond off in cosplays.

"This was the time before Plutia became CPU…" right after the picture was taken, Plutia, fond of taking walks and picnics, found a CPU memory and ate it. That was when Histoire came and witnessed Iris Heart. And her as well, after a couple of days.

"…She's really scary…" Noire mumbled as she continues to browse through the photos.

Plutia really _is_ her only friend before. Despite her dishonesty, it actually took her a lot of careful planning to make her like her as who she is. She knows herself that she can say anything that she didn't mean to and be stubborn enough not to admit until she couldn't take the pressure. Its flaw that she can somehow fix, but then it would roll back to where she started. She wouldn't dream of having a boyfriend, as she knew, from dramas and other portrayal of this type of personality in pop culture, it won't last long.

Her hard work paid off, Plutia finally considered her a friend. One couldn't believe the joy she had when she heard that. She even made sketches of what they were going to do, made sure that her new friend would have fun as possible. It was the most exciting in her life.

When Plutia, her only friend, became CPU, she was afraid. Plutia will go to a place where she couldn't reach her. Despite, her lazy nature, she would still be in a 'higher' position. There might be no time for her to being with her only friend. At the time, it might have sounded as a child trying to take her toy back, but that toy was only thing that drives her. She doesn't want to start at square one, because she already has a friend.

So she too searched frantically for a CPU memory. She would take any rumor about a CPU seriously and investigate it. She wasn't alone, though. She was grateful for the fact that her friend was always walking beside her. Even though she is a CPU now, she still goes and plays with her. But even with that, she still feels insecure.

"…Oh, it's Neptune…" she mumbled as her picture browsing suddenly showed Neptune when she stayed at Plutia's place. It was around one of her searches that Neptune fell down from the sky and landed on her. Neptune as being Neptune, even called her one of the mole people.

Her insecurity just grew significantly. When Neptune met Plutia, she knew they were immediately friends. As if with a snap of a finger, all her efforts can be done in 20 seconds flat by the new comer. She didn't felt devastated. She felt a bit of jealousy towards Neptune. Plutie still considers her a friend, it did relieved her, but not much.

"…This was me when I announced Lastation…"

When Noire became CPU and established Lastation, her first goal was to surpass Planeptune. Her goal was not to totally annihilate Planeptune of its followers but she wanted to show it off to Plutia. She made a country and all. Her goal was a childish one, too childish, as if seeking attention to her parents she got a perfect on their exam.

So she worked hard for her first 3 years in office. Trying as hard as she can to politically safe guard Lastation and be able to stand up on its own. She made sure all the paper works were done before evening and exterminate monsters whenever it pops up. Days after days of repeating that kind of daily activity continued. But her goal, is still out of reach.

But during one of those days of hard frantic work, there was a day where she can rest. She visited Planeptune just so she could play with Plutia. But as she landed on the Planeptowers balcony. She witnessed those two having fun without her. Plutia was actually having fun. Did she even smile just like that before this whole CPU thing happened? She doesn't know but her heart quenched.

"…Sigh…" Noire sighed in front of her computer. She continues to press the right button of her keyboard until it reached a specific photo of him.

"…I really do like him…"


	75. Chapter 75

Chapter 75:

"Geez, that woman is such a handful…"

Looking at the digital clock of my phone, it revealed that it's 5 am in the morning. Walking from Planeptune to Lastation just takes about an hour, but with the amount of nocturnal monsters while on the way, one could say that took me longer than expected.

"Well, even if Neptune wakes up, I did left a note saying that I was going for a run" I did left in about 3 AM, the same time as I usually do. But I do comeback at around 5 so she'll raise some suspicion.

"Well I'll sprint my way back, and that'd be the end of my work out…" and kill a few monsters along the way.

"I better get to my appointment, it is Noire we are talking about…" knowing Noire, she's going to kill me. If she can, but I still hope not.

* * *

"*Sigh*… I can't believe I called him to come here…" Noire sighed on her desk.

She never really intended to call him this early. It was on a whim, or maybe it was the act from her deepest consciousness. No matter which it is, she wasn't really expecting him answer. Who would take a call in 3 AM? Almost anyone would. But who would come to Lastation at 3 AM because she wanted to talk? He would and but she didn't expected it.

Once more, she holds her chest. As if trying to keep down her pounding heart. And the knowledge that he's coming here just so they could talk, pounded ever so harder.

Noire didn't expect herself to fall for a guy, or any guy for that matter. She had her mind set on 'reclaiming' Plutie as her friend. But she didn't expect her heart to betray her. Just like all the others, it was a sudden windfall epiphany, that she realized that her heart was eyeing a specific passerby so long ago.

Now that she thought about it, why did she fall for him? Was it because he was good looking? He is rather on the rough side, but he has looks. Was it because he is a great cook? That only works on guys. Was it because he's a great fighter? It's frustrating for her to admit, but he is strong. Because he helped her on a big issue last time? No answer came. So what? What makes him so darn special that she fell for him?

He teases her so much along with Neptune, but he has a rather gentle tone to it. He acts as though she knows how she works from the inside out. Maybe that was when she fell for him, maybe she wanted someone to understand her. A desire to let herself be vulnerable for once, and not being hidden by her dishonesty and stubbornness. Maybe that's what she wanted all along from the get go. That her quest of having friends all boiled down to simple childlike desires. And those childlike desires must have matured.

"…Who knows why I like him so much…" maybe this is what Neptune feels every time those 2 are together. The desire to trap themselves under their own universe each becoming a god and goddess over it.

"And he's taking he's sweet time getting here…"

* * *

"Sorry for taking my sweet time…" I spoke up in this wonderful opportunity.

"E-Eeeeeeh!? Wh-Why are you here!?" Noire panics.

"You told me to come right?" I say the most obvious thing.

"You could've knocked!"

"I tried for several minutes and being the worrywart as I am, I entered fearing for the worst…" and I thought she had collapsed or something.

"G-Geez, I could've changed… Kyaah!" upon realizing that Noire is still in her nightingale, which is a bit revealing in the undergarments, she covers herself with her arms. On a sign of good will, I turned my back to her.

"Don't worry, I didn't see anything…" I stare at the blank wall, gauging it as if it were something sinister.

"Hey…"

"Yeah?"

"…D-Do you appreciate what I do…"

"Where does this come from?" a strange question under a strange situations.

"I mean, no one looks at what I do… How hard was it to get to where I am today…"

"I see…" I don't know what she's jealous about anyways…

"I put every effort into making my country as stable as it is… and when I tell all about it to everyone, they just…"

"Either dismiss it or get pissed about it…" I answer her.

"Mhm… I didn't really wanted to sound that way…"

"I see…" she just wanted someone to praise her. But because of how she delivered it, she is very easily misunderstood. Or maybe because of her dishonest nature.

"All I really wanted, after all… is just having a friend…"

"Don't you have Plutie?"

"Yeah, but... lately she's been playing with Neptune…" I see…

"I actually didn't want to be a CPU or anything. I know that I'm dishonest, and I'm stubborn. But all I really wanted was just to be her friend…" …she's looking for something…

"The reason why I became CPU and all, was just so I can stand side-by-side with Plutia…" …that she already has.

"Then, everyone came around teases me that I'm lonely…" I'm guilty of that.

"Maybe I am… maybe I am that lonely…" so she self-deprecating now? I have very weird people around me. Geez, should I give her advice just like what I told to the other her?

"The simplest answer is the most complex to find" I mumble to myself.

"Eh?" she hears me mumble.

"Want some advice?"

"Mhm…"

"It's quite simple really, you just have to look hard enough. You are who you are for better or for worst. Being dishonest and stubborn, are all part of you being at your best. And that wondering if you can be someone else would only keep you from being who you are"

"…" she stayed quiet.

"Who knows, I may be right. I may be wrong. The best solution is always personal after all" public assertions and private doubts. It's funny how we have those.

"Ehe… I guess…" I think I unshackled something in her. Whatever that is, she only knows that.

"Jared…"

"Yeah?" I turn towards her. Her crimson eyes meets mine full of sorted feelings. A serious look.

"I love you…"

"Thanks, I appreciate it"

"…I knew you would say that"

"What? Giving up already?" I tease her a little. I'm getting embarrassed here.

"Because I've already lost…" a defeated smile.

"I heard from Nepgear that she started to call you Big Brother…"

"Yeah…"

"Th-Then…" she stands up and walks towards me.

"…will you be…" she holds the sleeve of my shirt clinging to it.

"…my first friend?"

"Hrm…" this girl is such a handful.

"We already are" I pet her head.


	76. Chapter 76

Chapter 76:

"…Excuse me…"

"Ah, Blanc. Welcome! o(*^▽^*)o"

Blanc enters the living room. She looks around finding any signs of any else in here. But she found no trace of other signs of another soul here. Meaning, mini-Histy is alone here.

"…Huh? Where's Plutia… and the others?"

"Neptune and… Jared, took the children out to play. Nepgear and Plutia are out shopping. (^^)"

"…I see. Mind if I sit here then?" she sits on the well carpeted, comfortable floor.

"Not at all. I will put on a pot of tea. (*^_^*)ゞ"

"…Please, don't trouble yourself. I'm just here to talk…"

"Talk about what? About him?"

"…Yes" mini-Histy settles down to a comforting eye level for Blanc.

"I've heard from Nepgear and from Noire that both of them have confessed…"

"I heard (∩⌣̀_⌣́). Noire informed you last week too?" with how Nepgear treating her as if he really is her big brother overnight, anyone would have guessed.

"She did. She was the last person to think that she would confess to him. How is Plutie?"

"She's trying hard not to be conscious of him (^^"

"…And you?"

"I'm keeping my distance. I can't stand keeping my feelings from bursting (-_-)"

"I see…"

For Blanc and mini-Histy, falling in love like any other girl was the last thing they would feel. Especially for mini-Histy. There is so much going on in with the world, especially about the Seven Sages. There is so much madness and chaos. But in between these, are fun filled moments lead by Planeptune's goddess. It is almost relieving in a sense. And in between these moments, were moments they slowly fall for one guy.

"…I better get going… I don't want to see him today…"

"I see… Take care then… (^_^)/ "

Blanc stands and headed for the elevator. With each step, she hoped not see him. She doesn't know when are they coming back home, but going away now would be the safest bet. The elevator doors opened, and she stepped inside. She pressed the G button and it falls smoothly down.

"…I hope Histoire will be okay…"

She looks out towards the city of Planeptune in all of its technological glory. Lowee is miles and miles apart from this. Not in terms of Shares, mind you. But in terms of how 'fun' this place is. It's not like Lowee is not 'fun'. They have festivals celebrated in every corner after all. But it is, on her personal level much more fun. Maybe because her experience here has been colored with those kinds of moments. And that each time she went back to Lowee, she would always want to have an excuse to get to Planeptune pronto.

*TING!*

The elevator stopped and opened its doors. She walks out, a few people greeted her and she greeted back, as she headed to glass entrance door.

"…Should I walk home or fly?" she ponders, as her eyes fall on Planeptune's retro future buildings.

"…It's a pain to walk. But I'll walk…" she puts one foot forward and the other foot next. She repeats the process, and walks.

The bustling city of Planeptune buzzes around as she pass through. In the city of Planeptune, she is very distinguishable. Not just because of her clothes. But because of her status as goddess. Unlike the Planeptune goddesses, they can blend in the crowd really well. It is quite hard being a goddess of a country.

As she walks by, she noticed a book store. There are some interesting books being displayed by the window. Genre's that are mystery, action, adventure, ghosts, and all sorts of it. As she stares at the book as if it were glaring back at her, she noticed that no one was inside.

"…I can be the first customer…" with that thought, she heads inside.

"Welcome!" the shopkeeper greeted before the counter. It was an old man, right in his 40s or 50s.

"Mhm…" Blanc just nods.

"Is there something specific you are looking for? About Lowee perhaps?"

"…Why are you asking about Lowee?"

"You dress like a Loweean. I believe it's called…." He snaps his fingers twice to bring the thought into surface.

"A miko… yes, a miko"

"…You have a good idea about my country…" Blanc smiles at that.

"I only just read in books. In any case, which book does interest you?"

"…I'll look around…" she walks towards the piles of book all neatly aligned in their selected genre on the shelves.

Blanc not only liked books. She loves them. It's funny how you are able to explore to vast amounts of worlds painted in words. Exploring how a new universe created by the writer, how it started, how it journeyed and how it ends. She was a guess to their ever expanding universe.

She had mountains of books when she was a kid. She reads and reads whenever she had time. After breakfast, after lunch and after dinner. She would not put down a book. She was engrossed in books, she sees her as the protagonist of that book, doing great things, doing humble and yet wonderful things for people, seeing they're failures break them and rebuilding themselves to grow. She sees those things from the books, and nurture it as her own.

She never had the angry and swearing problems. But her book reading have grown and grown, until she was reading for the most part, the mature kinds. Not the sexual kinds, mind you. But the kinds that has now the word 'shit!' and 'fuck!' and most especially 'bitch!'. It was a new experience for her so she sought those kinds of books, slowly coloring her other personality.

The first time she bursts, was terrible. It was summer and as she was in her teens she wanted to look wonderful in a swimsuit. After careful research on her books, she set on her quest to go shopping and look for swimsuits that she likes.

Finding a shop that might have fit the bill, she looks through all the clothes. Finding the thing that she would like. She confronted the book several times as she looks around. Finally, she found a two piece that would look nice for her. The mannequin that was wearing looked nice in it, so why not. She had asked the staff to get her the two piece and she headed for the dressing room that were lined up at the back.

But as she was about to wear it, she hears the staff from outside…

* * *

"_Hahaha…!_"

"_What!? You serious?_"

"_Yeah, that small girl was sooo excited for the two piece that it's literally seen in her eyes_"

"_But…?_"

"_But! The two piece is a string bikini! It's not perfect for her… um…_"

"_Ironing board!_"

"_Chopping board!_"

"_Hahahahaha!_"

"_Hahahahaha!_"

* * *

During right after, it was though several demons have possessed her and she began seeing red. She puts back her clothes on and comes out of the dressing room with monstrous anger right beside her.

"I think I wrecked the place… I think…" her memory of that day was blurry.

But what was not blurry was right after that. After a week of her of relieving of herself of her stress, she had read in her book about the CPU memory. CPU memories were mostly rumors and hearsays. But this particular book that had fallen on her hands have told her that the author had hidden it.

This sparked an idea in her head. She can live and do what those stories that she liked as a kid. She can be the hero, the nice queen who everyone respects, or any other stuff. It was a great idea. She can make a country that everyone would like to live in.

She searched high and low for that memory. Letting the book guide her. One would never imagine how she had worked hard to find a CPU memory under the guidance of a book that may or may not be true. She has notes everywhere as she researched. She had to reread her 'finished reading' books from the same author.

Her hard work paid off in the crowd really well. d walk to Lowee. how beautifil as she had found the CPU memory in a forest a few kilometers from her home city. She stared at the piece of jewelry for quite a while. It has dazzling rainbow sparkles that she had never seen before. But it is also scary, she knows about the consequences of taking it, it is a 50-50 chance.

So she takes the CPU a memory and guides it towards her open mouth…

* * *

"…_Here goes nothing…_"

*GULP!*


	77. Chapter 77

Chapter 77:

"Have you found anything that interests you…?"

"…No…"

"Too bad… I thought you would have a book that you liked…"

"…The books here are interesting to read. But not my taste…"

"I see… Ahaha… I guess I won't have a second regular here…"

"…A second?"

"…There was this guy who would come here the moment I open up and reads"

"…A guy?"

"Yeah. I told asked if he wanted to buy that book over there titled: 'Tell a Thousand Lies'. He said no, but he gave me a tip for disturbing every time"

"…I see…" Blanc has a fairly good idea who that person is.

"…I have to leave now, I have something to do…" she turns her back and headed towards the door.

"…I'll come back when there are new arrivals…" she left the book shop.

"…I think I'll walk around a bit…" she started walking to wherever her feet leads her.

Before Lowee was made into a nation, it was just a small town with clean water and plenty of environmental resources. But as it is a small town, it is also vulnerable to monsters. Few people are very well versed in fighting monsters. Almost all that attempted, are either wanting to die or is completely insane.

But on one very particular day. When monsters were almost terrorizing the rear gates of the town, 'she' came down with an axe on her shoulders. She swings at them left and right with unbelievable strength, and swears at them unbelievably also. For the guards that were watching the scene, they were appalled by its brilliance, if only she isn't swearing left and right though.

Blanc's moments of being the 'hero' wasn't short lived. As her days of defending the town, she knew for a fact that she is living the hero's path just like those in her stories. But as her fame grew, she noticed that her powers grow. For example, on one battle, she noticed that swinging her axe on the ground would cause a small earthquake that would make her enemies paralyzed for a moment whereas before she couldn't. She also noticed that she can fly faster whereas before, as well, she could not.

Slowly understanding about the nature of this new born power, she wanted to know more about it. And what better way to know than through books. And through her books, she discovered something. That each CPU who have taken and successfully eaten a CPU memory, will be a goddess to a country of her creation.

She pondered on that. Will she be able to run a country? If she can run it nicely, she can have the support of her people while being the protagonist that she wanted. It isn't all that bad to run a country right? Most of the protagonist where she read runs a country after the big boss fight. And they've never run into problems. But she is not that naïve either, she knows how hard it actually is running a country. But as she is a CPU, she can't neglect the title of goddess.

So with her heart steeled. She plunged into books once more, studying how to run a country properly.

* * *

"Aaah…This is the life!" Neptune raises her arms and falls down on the grassy ground on her back.

"…You're going to catch a cold, you know…"

"Geez, don't be such a spoilsport!" she pouts.

"I'm more concerned about your health…"

"Geez, are you saying that I'm getting fat again!?" now she interrogates.

"No… probably…" I'm not so sure what to answer…

Sitting under a tree sitting on the grassy ground, we are at the park with the kids enjoying ourselves for some fresh air. Of course, kids are an energetic bunch so we let them play with the other kids, while they keep in mind that they have to play where I can see them. And they've been keeping that instruction for the past 30 minutes or so.

"Hey Jared…"

"Yeah?" I look at my calling girlfriend.

"...Hand…" she stretched her hand out. I hold it tightly with one of mine.

"...Ehehe… It's fun to relax like this once in a while…"

"You did say that you like peace and quiet sometimes right?"

"Ooh, Jared learned something about me…"

"Of course, you're my fiancée after all…" we play with each other's hand.

"I wonder what Nep Jr. is buying?"

"Probably some more pudding…" we always have some pudding every day.

"Mhm, I love me puddings every single day!"

"And that's the reason why you're getting fat..."

"Nepu! I think I heard something that's implying about my weight again!" how in the hell is she this sharp?

"Probably just the wind…"

"No, I definitely heard that!" she's still giving me the pressure…

"Crud…" and it's getting to me.

"Mgu, mgu, mgu, mgu, mgu…" is she angry? Is she seriously angry?

"…You are going to be fat by the time you hit 30…" I say that fact one more time to her.

"Nepu! I don't want to lose my title as Miss Planeptune!" she agonizes.

"You competed?"

"No! But Nep Jr. tried though…"

"Yeah? I want to see that…"

"But she lost before she got to the finals"

"How heartbreaking…"

"I wish we sent out Compa… the judges would love to see her big boobs bouncing or something!"

"But she wouldn't even answer the questions..." not like I'm saying that Compa's an idiot. She has her, well, strengths and weaknesses.

"And maybe we could have put in Iffy…"

"What?" she'd be well, um, frankly speaking, she wouldn't even make it to the first round. It isn't like she isn't that cute, but… well, um… damn this it's really hard to find the right word.

"Or maybe put in li'l ol' me!"

"…" isn't that basically cheating?

"…I'm hungry…" she said unexpectedly.

"...We just ate like 2 minutes ago…" we did ate some hotdogs.

"But I'm hungry~~~!"

*GRRRRRRR~~!*

"…" was that seriously her stomach growling? Was it? She really does have a black hole of a stomach.

"Fine… Let's buy some ice cream…"

Sharpening my eyes, I look around the park, hoping to find any sort of ice cream vendor. I see the kids running around with some other kids, probably playing tag. There are families here and there, bringing to life the park. As I search with by looking, I found a very particular individual who is sticking out like a sore thumb.

"…It's Blanc…" I mumble without letting Neptune here. I think I have a rough idea what she visited for.

I follow her with my eyes. She seems to be walking a destination. I look around a bit and see nothing in particular that she would be walking towards to. Maybe she's going to take a shit under that tree over there? Nah, its Blanc we're talking about.

As she continues to walk, she stopped and the turns around. What is she doing? Is she just walking wherever her feet takes her? She marches on from the edges of the park and probably wants to circle the place. As I watch her, I found the thing that I have been looking for.

"…I see an ice cream vendor. I'll go buy some…"

"Vanilla please!" Neptune said.

"And that'll be the last one as well. We don't want you to spoil dinner…"

"Geez, you're not my dad!" she sticks out her tongue.

Petting her head, I stand and headed towards the ice cream vendor. The thing was so well blended in from my point of view earlier that I didn't see it for the first time around. I cut through the park, each passing the other visitors. I look around for and find that Blanc is also headed for the line to the ice cream vendor.

It didn't took time before she finally notices me.

"…Ah, Jared…"

"Yo. Buying some ice cream?"

"…Mhm…"

"Great… Let's go take the line together… Damn the line's long…" we both fall in line.

"So what brings you here?"

"…I wanted to visit Plutia but Hsitoire told me that she was out shopping"

"I see…"

"…What about you?"

"I'm letting the kids play, while Neptune and I enjoy a simple date…"

"…A date, eh…" a slight blush from her.

"Yeah, a date…"

"…Jared…"

"Yeah?"

"…Can we talk somewhere…?" she asked.

I take into consideration the line to the ice cream. Well, not really. I am in the middle of a date, so I really shouldn't get caught talking to another woman. But we are talking about Blanc, I know how the circumstances go.

"…It's a bad time right now…"

"…I see…" she seems disheartened…

"How about I visit Lowee tomorrow morning…"

"…Eh? You'd do that?"

"Yeah. You want to talk right? I'll listen…" listening is all I can do for the girls anyway.

"…Okay, tomorrow morning then" she nods.

"Good. As compensation for today, your ice cream is on me…"


	78. Chapter 78

Chapter 78:

"…Well, I'm here and…" a small wind blew…

"…It's terribly cold… Brrrr!" a bad day not to bring a scarf.

4 am and I'm already in Lowee and by the gawd of spring early morning is really cold. Maybe because I'm at the northern part of the continent, that may explain it. Or maybe I'm walking not towards the Basilicom but towards a specified location that Blanc said earlier. And the path there is just blowing wind after wind.

"...I w-w-wish, I have those hot packs that Iffy used to give out…" and I swear they were wonderful during all that time looking for the freakin' Key Fragment. I may be adaptive, but coming here with just jeans and a thin shirt is just ridiculous.

"Or maybe I could have brought Neptune along... she could keep me warm any time…" if you know what I mean. Man, I can't stop talking, can I?

I march on in the dead night of the Japanese themed country. Not a soul to be found. If there are souls walking around at this time, I'll have the power of Christ to compel them, over and over again. Don't get me wrong, I'm not scared of ghosts, I'm not in the mood to deal with ghosts right now.

The new location that Blanc mentioned seemed to be a park somewhere. Take note, somewhere, 'cause I don't know where that park is. It's terrible predicament, given that I'm in thin clothes in a cold environment. I wish there was some kind of bulletin where it posted the map of Lowee.

Walking towards the lighted road towards nowhere, I see a shop that is open out in the distance. It seems the owner is prepping up for morning sales. I walk towards it, hoping for some kind of warm to use in the cold environment. Upon reaching the shop, I see a woman cleaning the counter.

"Hello, ma'am…" the owner is a young woman, probably in her 20's.

"Ah, a customer, so early…"

"…Well, I would buy a merchandise that would keep me warm, but I guess you ran a toy store of a kind, yes?" the store is filled with toys. Not the plastic toys but legit wood work. And it looks like it's been hand crafted.

"As you can see, I'm sorry that I don't have anything to keep you warm though. Must be dreadfully cold in such thin clothes…"

"I never knew Lowee was this cold during spring…"

"I see that you're not a local…"

"I'm from Planeptune"

"What brings you to Lowee this early?"

"A friend called me and said wanted help… so here I am, shivering from the cold…"

"I'm sure you are, wait just a moment I think I'll fix up some warm coffee for you as well…"

"Thank you, ma'am" the woman disappeared to a door presumably to her house.

I let myself and examine the toys. The toys here feature in everything to a kids appeal. From robots to teddy bears to firetrucks. On closer, inspection the wood is made out of Nara. A national tree grown in the Philippines where, to the crafter, if it gets wet it gets stronger. The shelves are brimming with these toys filled to the seams. It kinda makes you feel like you are part of another's dream.

"Here you go coffee for you…" the owner reappeared at the counter, with two cups of coffee on hand.

"Thank you ma'am" I take the cup of coffee and sip it up. Ah, creamy and warm.

"Where are you headed?"

"To a park somewhere…"

"A park?"

"Yeah, somewhere where I can find a romantic park" I think that's where Blanc is… probably…

"Ahaha… I think I know a place…"

* * *

"Romantic indeed..."

At the entrance of the park, is a well lit path right next to a river. The path is painted in orange gold because of the leaves. The cause of the leaves are due to the trees on the side, where its leaves are still painted as if it was autumn. I mean we are in the spring season right? It's not that cold for me anymore, since that coffee, but it the early is still brewing cold winds.

Entering the park, I purposely step on the leaves, making slight cracking sounds. The silent night gently takes the echo. The trees rustled, assisting me in an orchestrated manner. The lit path extends and extends taking me somewhere where I am not familiar of. I march on…

And marching on was a good idea. Out in the distance, lit under by a street light, sitting on a bench. Was a girl wearing what seem like a miko with and orange fold skirt. She sits patiently waiting for me. I slowly make my way towards her. Making sure that my steps are heard to her ears.

"…You're here…" she's a bit joyful when she saw me.

"Yeah…"

"…Take a seat…" I sit beside her. Watching the stream of the river shining from the street light.

"…What do you think of Lowee?"

"…A nice place… always autumn, cold even though it's spring. But it's nice…" I say my honest feelings.

"…It was hard… getting this country to run…"

"…I know…" I experienced it myself. Although in a much smaller scale. For example, being assigned as Captain of a team.

"…I studied really, really hard getting here…" despite appearances, she is a very hard worker.

"…At first, I thought it's easy to run a country. You get to tell people what to do, allow them to have an imprint of the people in the country that I'm making…"

"…People like what I was doing, I made Lowee a better place…"

"…When the first set of hurdles arrive. I worked hard to get Lowee pass that…"

"…I thought, 'Hey, I'm living the protagonist's dream'…" just like in her stories. But sadly… reality isn't all rainbows and sunshine's.

"…And then those guys came…"

"The Seven Sages…" I heard what they have been doing to Lowee.

"…I tried to get them out of my country. But they keep on coming…"

"…So I appointed a right hand man named... Mr. Badd…"

"…It looks like his prescence made a small difference… but they're still at it…"

"…Lowee was a mess little by little. I tried to keep it together but…" she looks down, having a shadow over her face.

"…I just couldn't…" I can see that there are small tears from the corner of her eyes and want to pet her head right now, but that'd be a bad move right now.

"…So I endured it… I endured every bit of it… They harassed me when I make a bad decision… The people slowly migrated out of Lowee, because they hate it… I did everything for Lowee… But I'm still at that spiral…" her shoulders are starting to shake.

"…Th-Then…*hic!*… Those three came along… I knew it was a set up…*hic!* B-but I tried to…" she tried to win her people's heart back with a strong finish. I know.

"I know…" this is the right time to rub her back. We went silent for only just a minute. Letting my rubbing sink into her.

"…Th-Then, Mr. Badd revealed that he was a part of the Seven S-Sages and I…" a bitter betrayal.

"…I thought I lost everything…"

"…Then, those three… told me that I can be their friend…"

"…They told me they have faith in me…"

"…They helped get my nation back… isn't it funny? A rival nation's CPU is a friend…" she looks at me with a smile.

"…Yeah… Its sweet irony as they say…" haha… joyful irony if I might add some more.

"…Mhm… Plutie said that I was envious of them. That all I really wanted was friends to help me…" and also, I know what Plutie's alternate motive was when she advised Blanc.

"I would agree and disagree at the same time…"

"…"

"There are times when you look up and realized that the plot of your life doesn't make sense to you anymore. You thought you were following the arc of the story, but you finding yourself immersed in passages you don't understand…" she stays quiet and listens.

"Either everything seems important or nothing does. It's just a mess of moments that don't even seem to belong in the same genre, they keep changing on what you choose to highlight"

"…Mhm…" she nods.

"This is where you'll say, what kind of story of is this? Was this the life changing story that I wanted? Will there be heartbreaks and drama at the climax? Will the ending of the story be as grand and epic as I might expect them to be?"

"But as you thumb through the years, you may never know where it is all going. The only thing you know is that there is more to the story. That soon enough you'll reread all the chapters to get to the good parts"

"…"

"And when you do, that is when you will realize what you really wanted…"

"…What I really wanted…?" she has an idea now.

"Look back to what you achieved. Everything from the very beginning. You raised a small town, all on your own. Not letting anyone hinder you but also not let yourself hinder yourself. You raised a wonderful healthy country not for you but for the people. You have given everything even yourself for this country that you made…"

"…*hic!* *sob!*…Y-Yeah"

"Even when those Seven Sages tries to humiliate you, from harassment to betrayal. And even when you fought those three, Neptune, Plutie and Noire. And even then, you are outnumbered by 3 to 1. You have nothing on your mind but your own country…"

"…*hic!* M-Mhm!" tears are streaming down her face.

"…And you did it all on your own"

"…Mhm!"

"I agree to Plutie that you need friends. But that is not what you wanted to hear, am I right?"

"…W-What?"

"…You wanted to hear this…" I let my hand gently slide under her cap. Petting her brown hair as her cap falls.

"'Good job, Blanc. You made an excellent country on your own…'"

"…*hic!* *hic!*…Waaaaaaaaaa!"

She wailed. Against the silent early morning night. Her crying echoed up high. I continue to pet her head. She knows she needs good friends. Plutie, or rather, the Madam, did a good job to make her rekindle her fire of trust once more. Or maybe because it was in the heat of the moment at the time, I don't know since I only just heard it from Neptune.

But hearing this story and the info I have to what happened. There was one thing that it had been missing all along. A small bit of appreciation. Childish envy, the Madam says? It was more like childish desires, just like Noire's. Although this is the opposite of that.

"…Ehehe…"

Afte a while of crying. She started to giggle.

"What is it? Am I petting you the wrong way?"

"…No… it's not that…" she smiles as she looks at me.

"Then what?" women are a handful.

"…I think I realized why I like you so much…" she says so proudly.

"Oh really? Care to tell?"

"…That's a secret…"

"Damn… I guess I won't be able to know…"

"…But I can tell you one thing…"

"…Yeah?"

In an almost unexpected manner, she approaches me. Her face have gotten close to my cheek.

"I love you…"

*KISS*

And kisses my cheek.

"…Cheeky cheeky woman" that's almost cheating.

"…Ehe..." she smiles at it with a blush on her cheeks. She's cute if I do say so myself.

"I appreciate your feelings though" I really do.

"…I knew you were going to say that…"

"Ahaha... That's all I can say really…"

"…It's annoying that you're Neptune's fiancée…"

"Whatever can we do about that?" I smile at that.


	79. Chapter 79

Chapter 79:

"…*Sigh*… Making coffee by myself is really hard… (╯︵╰,)" the 9 and ½ inch fairy struggles to open the jar of coffee inside.

Early morning in Planeptune about 6:30, and the only guy atop of the Planeptower is not back yet. The rest of the cast are still asleep. So she can't exactly ask for help. She has already plugged the thermos and has already boiled up the water inside. With a bit of stubbornness, she once more attempts to open the jar of coffee, but still to no avail.

"I give up! ( ≧Д≦)" she shouted to herself as she flies away on her book.

Hovering over the counter that separates the living area and the kitchen itself. She stares blankly at the former, letting the silence in. Jared would always sleep there, using a futon that they provided. And at exactly 3 am, like always, he would run around Planeptune giving himself an exercise.

"…I wonder if sleeping for only 4 hours is healthy for him…（＾∀＾）" who knows. It's always a wonder if it's anything about him.

"Love, eh… (ー_ー)" the thought resurfaced as she stares blankly.

This really is an unexpected turn of events for her. When did she fell in love? She doesn't know. So, why did she fell in love? She doesn't know either. But is this really love? Was it just a flux of emotion swirling inside her chest? Was it really something as infatuation? A certain likeness to him because he is very dependable, considerate and other good traits.

She had been Plutia's helper since she was born. And ever since then, she had more headaches than she could ever imagine. From all of Planeptune's political problems to calculating the stock market flow. She did it all. Of course, everyone knows that she can't do it herself due to how small she is.

She never had time much for herself really, she has but not always. On most days, she'd work and work for the sake of Planeptune. Now with three goddesses of Planeptune, with one of them being the only that helps most probably. It still has been a tough call for her.

When the kids arrive, because they want to respond to the kidnappings, she really couldn't say no. 3 kids being taken care of 2, well, lazy individuals is just asking for it. She can't as she is small and will only dismiss her as cute. Nepgear can help, but she noticed she can be a pushover if you push hard enough. The other three can't always be in Planeptune. So she has to split herself once more to raise them properly.

It was some sort of a miracle when Jared came around at that time. She is also shocked to hear that he is Neptune's fiancée. She is also shocked to hear that she has beaten all 5 goddesses including Plutia. Mature and a good cook. The list goes on and on. That was why she assigned him to raise the children properly. Just like how her other self trust him, she too feels that he can be very trusted. He agreed and did all he could to raise them.

The burdens on her shoulders seemed to have become lightened a bit. Although not much have changed in her lifestyle, working, telling the 2 goddesses to work rather than play, being played like a rag doll by the kids and so on. Although nothing has changed of her activities, just adding the right extra person in the house made it all the difference for her.

"Maybe that was when I started to depend on him more… (o^^o)" and that was also when she…

* * *

"I'm back" I announced as I enter. I just got back from Lowee. I take off my shoes and socks, put the shoes in the rack, put the socks in my pocket for now, slip on the slippers and headed towards the kitchen/living room.

"Jared, welcome back! (^○^)" mini-Histy greeted me from the counter the separates the kitchen and the living area.

"Everyone still soundly asleep?" I look around first before I asked.

"Apparently… (=^_^=)"

"I see. Guess, coffee is up first. Hm? The thermos is plugged…" I also noticed the coffee jar here as well.

"I wanted to have some coffee but I couldn't twist the lid to open… (-_-)"

"I see…" I take the coffee jar and twist the lid and the jar on opposite directions.

*POP!*

"Got it… What kind of coffee do you want? Black or white?"

"The chef's special… (∩_∩)"

"White it is..."

I take the two tea spoons and cups. I also take the cream and the brown sugar. I add half a teaspoon of coffee, 1 and ½ teaspoon of sugar, and 2 creamers. This is my way of making coffee, I then add some hot water from the thermos and mix them both with their designated teaspoons.

"Here, you go hot coffee for you…" I give place the cup in front of her. It's funny how she can turn that into her own hot spring.

"Thanks… *Siiip!...Good like always. (^－^) she sips the coffee without lifting the cup.

"*Siiip!*… Good coffee for a good quiet hour…" it's quiet, really quiet.

"I wonder if it is more of a silence before the storm (^^"

"Haha… I guess, the kids are usually making a mess, but lately they've been behaving themselves…"

"I wonder if they take after someone… (^○^)"

"Probably Nepgear or Noire, Blanc and Vert…" I count them off my fingers.

"Or probably from you. (=^▽^=)" now that's a shocker.

"Really?" true, I am overly influencing them.

"You know, I kinda worried about the kids' upbringing when they arrived here. But I see I have nothing to worry about when you got here. (-_-)"

"Well, I am a passerby after all. I do know a little how to raise a kid properly"

"There you go again, that passerby line. (＾ω＾)"

"What? Is it getting annoying?"

"No, no. It just goes to show that whenever you say it, you would look really cool. (=＾ω＾=)"

"Really? *Siiip!*" seems legit.

"…Oh, this is the first time we have taken a heart-to-heart talk. （・o・）"

"Maybe that's because it's just the two of us right now…" I sip again from my coffee.

"That may be… *Siiiip!*"

"Doesn't too half-bad honestly…" I say so honestly.

"…Indeed. Two people, taking a casual talk. It is a sight unseen here. (' v `)"

"That sounds surprising… *Siiip!*" oh, I'm all out of coffee. I fix myself another coffee.

"It is. （○＾ω＾○）*Siiip!*"

"...I wonder if there would be more surprises along the way… (o⌒∇⌒o)"

"Why do you wonder that?"

"Ever since you came here, you keep surprising us. （・o・）"

"Sorry for surprising you then"

"I mean it in a good way! (ノ°▽°)ノ" she defends.

"I know. Just pulling your leg…" I stir the coffee that I made for myself.

"I wonder if your head would be comfortable to sit on. σ(^○^)"

"And why'd you think that?"

"It looks soft, by the looks of it. (￣∇￣)"

"Haven't you already sat on my head?"

"No. I think…" it was probably Big-Histy that I'm assuming.

"Oh well, here. Sit…" I offer her my head. She floats up and sat on my head.

"It's comfy…（＾∀＾）"

"Really?" I know that I wash to a certain softness, but I didn't think it was comfortable for fairies.

"…I think I'll this to one more reason why I like you… ( ﾟvﾟ)"

"Haha… one would…"

"You don't sound surprised… (・_・ヾ"

"I am actually..." surprised that a fairy likes me. Mini-Histy moves, as if trying to lay on her belly on my head.

"…I like you… (*^-^)"

"I know. Thanks…"

"…This is kinda weird hearing it from me… (*´ー`)"

"Not really… You are a girl first and foremost after all. Feelings can't be strapped down no matter what race you are. History, background, the place from where you were born, your titles, wealth, and other things; those things are useless once you feel love for someone. And that also doesn't apply to a significant other either" I'm more like lecturing myself.

"You really are amazing… (｀▽´)"

"…I guess…"

"So can I tell you my honest feelings again? σ(^○^)"

"Sure…"

"I love you (*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)"

"Thanks. I appreciate it" two confessions under the same day.


	80. Chapter 80

Chapter 80:

"What am I even doing?"

Vert asked herself as she sighed and paused her game. Playing games for 2 weeks straight without a wink of sleep and only some chips and an energy drink to go for, it's surprising that she hasn't passed out yet. Well, she is a gamer first and foremost and her stamina has been honed.

"…I haven't shown up at all and I kinda miss Nepgear…" she resumed playing her game.

"…I can't play like this anymore…" she drops the controller and shuts down her console.

Standing up she heads towards her bed and lays there facing the ceiling. Her head is pretty much swirling. She tries to keep herself distracted from everything, but as she stops playing and giving her eyes a rest, her thoughts would come rushing in like waterfalls. Things related to him pops into her head frame after frame.

"…I wonder if everyone has already told him…" she doesn't know she's been holed up here ever since she got back from the beach party. Uneasiness has already filled her from the core to the surface.

"…Is this what it feels like to be… in love?" she doesn't know either but it's discomforting. Her chest is pounding so hard that she has to hold it. And with each pound images of him flashes more and more with one clearer than the last.

"…I don't want to feel like this anymore..." she said knowing full well that she will feel far more terrible than she is now.

The emotional stress that she's having right now is immense. Her feelings was too much for her bare. He would pop up in her head in the least expected moment and her heart would hammer her chest as if wanting to burst. This really was the first time that she felt in love and she didn't know how to handle it.

"…Geez and I brag myself to be the mature one as well…" right now, she's like a kid hiding from her biggest crush in school.

Why was she hiding from him anyway? She is in love, true, but that doesn't hold enough reason for her to hide. In fact, she already had the thought of confessing to him when she heard that Nepgear, her assumed little sister, was calling her Big Brother. But she couldn't take that first step. She doesn't know why. And as she idles around trying to find enough strength for her to confess, she delayed herself for too long and found herself back in the Leanbox's Basilicom.

Ever since then she's been trying several ways to motivate her to confess to him. It's just a confession, just saying three words isn't hardly worth the effort at all. But as each time she tries to step out of her room something would stop her. She wants to get out and tell him, to finish this whole ordeal on her, but at the same time doesn't want to.

What was this feeling? Fear of rejection? She knows too well that she will be rejected. She knows so well that he has already eyes for another woman. But she knows too well that he is kind that even if he was going to reject her, it would be a soft rejection. So what is it? What is she afraid of? What is stopping her? What's stopping her from telling three simple words?

Or maybe because this too is a part of the feeling of love. To feel anxiety, insecurity. To feel as though that you need someone to comfort you. To let them know you need them. To open yourself to them so that you can wrap them in and close once more. Maybe feeling a bit scared is also a part of it. To let them know that you need protecting rather than be the protector.

To take the risk of exposing yourself. To take the risk of being hurt to the pain. To take the risk of letting yourself be fooled around by your mind as well as your heart. To allow yourself to be beaten down and fall so deeply to that person that you won't be able to rise up again.

Confessions, are as if, removing all your clothes. Stripping down until you are nude. It is embarrassing yes, and quite scary as well. What would he think of me when I confess to him? What would he say? What would he do? And each time she asks herself that or rather allow herself to loom over that, she is sucked into a loop. Where all her question would run around in full circle in her head and she would make no progress whatsoever.

"…Why..? And she makes it sound so easy as well…" she recalls everything of what Neptune said during the beach.

Sitting up on the bed, she stares blankly at the TV screen of her room, her countless games all lined up, some posters of explicit content such as a male to male relationship. And other stuff in her room. It is no surprise to anyone and even to herself that she loves games. And she able to express it with the most pride in her voice.

But was that same of kind of love in loving someone? The answer was simply no. It wasn't. But it had the same context. To do anything for the one you love. Not letting them give a breather and allow them to drown from your heartfelt feelings.

"Ah…" was that it? Was that what Neptune meant? It isn't just something physical nor is something verbal. But it is in sense that they should know that they are loved by you. Whether it may be a puppy love, a friendship kind of love, a kind of love for the significant other, whatever it maybe they should know.

Just like how she loves her games, she would give them everything she could but most of her games would only return to her a few nights of no sleep and a drowsiness that would make one sleep for a week. But that was all it really is to it. That even if she lets him know that she has fallen for him she really should expect nothing in return other than night with buckets of tears.

But even so, even with all that discovery of herself. Even if most of the puzzle has been solved. She was still scared. Too scared to even face him. What was she afraid of anyway? She doesn't know. The silent room won't tell her the answer. Her mind won't give her the answer. And even her pounding heart can't tell her the answer.

She is back from where she her thoughts began.

Vert crawls into bed, making sure that her shoes are off. She hugs her bod pillow tight, so very tight as if choking it. She closed her eyes as well her head from thinking of him. She wanted to make sure that as she would get some sleep today and not get some wild dream of him to wake her today.

"…Urgh… I've fallen so deep, haven't I?…" and she fell asleep.


	81. Chapter 81

Chapter 81:

"*Sigh*…" A heavy sigh escapes Vert.

It's night out in Leanbox right now. She thought she had gone blind the moment she woke up, but it was just her room being unlit. But rather than opening the light in her room she remained in her bed. Looking out at the window, the night sky isn't glittered with stars, most probably due to light pollution.

*GRRRRR~~!*

"G-Geez! My hunger has to destroy the mood!"

In the most unholy of timings, her stomach growled loudly. A sign that she hasn't eaten anything healthy lately. She forced her body to get out of bed and head and headed towards the door. She slightly trips from the wires of her consoles as she walks from the dimly lit room.

*Knock! Knock!*

A knock on the door alerts her. She headed first to the switch and turn on the lights. She fixes her hair and her clothes trying to look as presentable as possible while readying the answer that she just woke up. After a bit of time, she opens the door of her room.

"Ah, Vert. I thought you weren't in…" the girl with long lilac hair wearing a sailor uniform while also carrying a tray of food greeted.

"Nepgear… what brings you here?"

"Well, I was getting worried that you weren't showing up so…"

"Having my little sister worry about me, I fail as your big sister!" Vert attempts to hug Nepgear.

"G-goodness Vert! Don't or the food will spill!"

"Ah, sorry, sorry. Come in and let's both eat…"

"This is only for you though…"

"Eh, Nepgear made food for me?" Vert is shocked.

"Please don't sound like I don't know how to cook"

"No, no. I didn't meant to sound anything like that. I'm genuinely happy that you came all the way here to cook for me" Vert steps aside to let Nepgear inside. Nepgear steps in…

* * *

"Okay… she's inside…" I say from the corner of the hall as I hear the door shut.

"U-Um… T-Thanks for coming!" the maid on my side, presumably a Basilicom employee thanked.

"Well it is a request after all… and as a passerby, my services are expensive…" I'm a very expensive man after all.

"Right. You will be rewarded after this…"

"Riiight…" I was expecting of that whole money reward as an incentive but she really is planning to give me a hefty sum. Well, she is offering.

* * *

"_Hello. This is Planeptune's Basilicom automated voice speaking_" _I pick the phone when it rang._

"_Um…_" _I can hear a girl's voice finding the words through the magnetic speaker._

"_Hello?_"

"_Um… A-Are you one of Lady Green Heart's friends?_"

"_Yes, I would be one of her friends_" _now that I think of it, I really haven't seen Vert in 2 weeks. Well, she does have a lot to think about as she is a maiden succumb to her heart's feelings._

"_U-Um! PLEASE HELP HER!_"

"_Wh-Whoa! Don't shout please…_" _it's bad for my complexity._

_"So what kind of help does she need?" I ask her gently._

_"U-Um I don't know… B-But she's been holed up in her room for so long that I fear for her health"_

_"I see…" she's probably having emotional stress right now… After all she is an ocean away._

_"And she's been living from chips and energy drinks for 2 weeks too!"_

_"Is that she's been eating?"_

_"Y-yes… We've been trying to offer her food but she said they only make her sleepy…"_

_"I see…" I don't know if _this _Vert is hardcore gamer. But I'm going to guess that she is._

_"Please help her. We'll reward you handsomely if you do!" um… are you seriously doing the whole money incentive thing?_

_"Um… Sure…? I guess…?" Please take note of the question marks._

* * *

"Uwaa… This is place is a mess…" Nepgear is appalled by the amount of snack and empty bottles and cans this place has.

"Ahaha… A girl really shouldn't have a messy room right? I'll call one of the cleaning duty guys to get us some cleaning equipment" Vert said as she reached in to her pocket to get her phone.

"Ah, no. Right now, we have to get you eat. I'll tidy up a bit for you"

"Alright. I can't turn down the an offer by my little sister"

Nepgear placed the tray with food on the table. The dish that she is offering to Vert right now is Chicken Tikka Masala on top of rice. Of course, Nepgear just learned how to cook it today and it was… well, worth the effort if one were to look at it. After, Nepgear heads to the video game console and fixes them up in their proper place. She also folds up the chip bags and placed the bottles and cans of energy drinks in one place. Vert stated eating.

"Mmm~! The food is delicious!" Vert is brimming with ecstasy as she takes the first spoon full of her dish.

"I'm glad you like it!" Nepgear says as she puts the last of the can with the others. She joins Vert as she sits adjacent to her.

"Mhm, I haven't had good food in the last 2 weeks…"

"G-Geez, you should eat something healthy! You can't live through junk food!" Nepgear worries.

"I know… But I can't simply bring myself to go…" she puts down her spoon.

"Why?" Nepgear asked in concern. She knows her circumstances well.

"…I can't simply shake my head off of him…"

"Each time I try to think of him. Each time I try to relax myself. Each time I let my guard down. He would fill me in. And I'd feel terrible about it?"

"…How?"

"I don't know. My chest would pound so hard that it feels like a heartache. So instead of making me feel terrible I'd rather put play games"

"…Aren't you just running away from your own feelings Vert?"

"I know… But…" a small tear flows down her eyes.

"…I can't stop loving him so much! *hic!*"

"…*sob!* I- I want to tell him how I feel! B-but I can't! I'm scared!"

"Why are you scared?"

"I don't know either…" Vert answered honestly.

"Maybe because even up until now even when I try to motivate myself. I just can't seem to do it"

"I see…" Nepgear can only say that reply.

"Love is a cruel mistress, right Nepgear?"

"Ahaha… I agree" Nepgear tries to force a smile at that. But with this atmosphere her smile didn't last.

"But I think falling love with someone is wonderful as well…" Nepgear added.

"Why?"

"It makes you feel high and that you get to admire him even more. It makes you see him in a new positive level"

"But there's a limit to how much we can like him…!"

"Isn't it another kind of love too? To just love that person and feel good about it. Even if he can't reciprocate our feelings for him. At least we know that we can still love him regardless, right?"

"Ah… Maybe you're right…"

"That's why I'll support Big Brother and Sis. Because I love Big Brother…" Nepgear says her genuine feelings for him.

"…Maybe you're absolutely right…" for Vert, that was an eye opener for her. She knows what's actually stopping her.

"Tell me Nepgear, what did Jared say when you told him?" Vert asked in all seriousness. And yet with a refreshed tone.

"…I can't answer that Vert.."

"I see… Do you mind if I step out for a bit?"

"Mhm…"

Vert wipes her tears and fixes her face. She stands and heads towards the door. As she reaches for the knob. She feels her hand started to shake again. She wants to get out of her room but her hand is stopping her from doing so.

"You can do it, Vert…" a small cheer from Nepgear pushed her hand to grab the knob tightly. With a sigh of relief she opens the door and steps out.

* * *

"Jared…" the woman that stepped out of her room, after 2 weeks of seclusion, wasn't all that surprised to see me.

"Why aren't you that surprised to see me? Most people would have practically screamed the sight of me popping up" it's a bit of a disappointment on my end.

"I could tell that you were here from the dinner that she made…"

"I didn't cook that though"

"But who else would know such a dish you haven't thought her how to make it" um, a cook book can teach you how to cook Chicken Tikka Masala properly too. But not perfect.

"...Anyway, there has been something that I have been meaning to tell you all this time…"

"What is it?" she breathes in air and exhales it out, calming herself. And making sure that nothing will stand in her way, she looks straight into my eyes. As if allowing me to peek what is inside her heart.\

"…I love you…"

"Thanks for that, I appreciate it…" I pet her head.


	82. Chapter 82

Chapter 82:

"Huwaa… *Yaaaaawwwn!*…Nnnnng!" I stretch as I yawn.

"That's a pretty long yawn…" Nepgear comments.

"I'm getting sleepy…" I check the time on my phone to see that it's already 10 o'clock. I check the elevator and we're a few floors away before we get to our home.

"…Oh yeah, now that I remember, I think we got some money…" I pull out a green bag from my pocket. It's quite heavy.

"Um… Did you just took advantage of the situation?"

"No, no. Definitely no. It was just lumped onto me and I just couldn't refuse it"

"Eeh? Really? Then do you want to know what's inside?"

"Probably a ton of credits… Well let's take a look to make sure" I pull the string of the bag allowing it to open. A golden ray of light appears from within, as if it was a gift from the heaven themselves.

"~_Chi~~ de~~l gi~ta~~no I gio~rni abbe~lla? Chi~~ de~~l gi~ta~~no I gio~rni abbella? Chi? Chi I giorni abbella?_~"

I close the bag almost immediately…

"Holy shit! What the fuck was that!?" was that seriously Anvil?! Did this bag just sang Anvil?!

"G-G-Goodness! It's literally shining!" Nepgear panics like I did.

"Here Nepgear take it!" I give her the bag.

"No way, Big Brother! You take it!" and she gives it back.

"There's no way I can carry lug this thing around that is literally shining like the sun!"

"B-But I can't too! It's too much for me!"

"So what do we do!?"

"Goodness, why are asking me!?"

"What are you two doing? (・_・ヾ"

"Huh?"

"Eh?"

Both of us stare at the tiny fairy sitting on a book. Of course, without our knowledge, since we are panicking after all, we have already reached the top floor of Planeptower. With the elevator doors opened, it reveals the mini-Histy, presumably to greet us home. This is perfect.

"Good evening to you too, Histy. Can I ask for a favor?" I ask casually.

"A favor? （￣□￣；）"

"Please hide this small green bag to the depths of Planeptower's innards" I lend out the small green bag.

"Why? (õ.O)"

"Please, Histoire! For the sake of Planeptune! Please hide it somewhere!" Nepgear begged.

"I don't really get it but… (^～^;)ゞ"

"C'mon, Histy. This small thing will bring your beloved Planeptune spiraling out of control if it were to fall into the wrong hands. And you're the only one who can do it" I encourage her.

"Um… Okay, but, may I know what's inside? (＃⌒∇⌒＃)ゞ"

"Don't open it!" both of us chorused at that.

"Okay…? (⊙_ )"

"Just hide it and don't ever, ever, ever open it!"

"If you do, who knows what would happen to Planeptune!" Nepgear added.

"If you both say so… ε-(；-ω-｀A)" mini-Histy sighed, takes the bag out of my hands. I feel relieved.

"Hoo… Crisis averted…" you can say that again, Nepgear.

"Anyway, welcome home you two… (*^o^*)" Histy greeted us as we enter.

"We're home. Have you guys eaten yet?" Nepgear asked as we take out our shoes and replace them with our slippers.

"Mhm! (^_^) So much so that everyone has gone to sleep..."

"And leaving a heck ton of cleaning to do? Dammit…" the pile of things to wash on the sink is almost intimidating.

"Goodness, should I help?"

"Nah, you're tired already. Wash your face and get some sleep today"

"But what about you Big Brother? Wouldn't it be faster if two people worked on it together?"

"We only have one sink Nepgear"

"Oh, yeah…" silly Nepgear.

"Thanks for the offer anyway. Get some sleep both of you, okay?"

"Okay. Good night Big Brother"

"Good night, Jared (´･ω･`)ﾉ. Oh, the futon's already ready for you (* ￣ω￣)ノ"

"Thanks. Good night you two"

After greeting them in return, both of them disappears to their respective rooms leaving me alone in the kitchen/living room. I look at the time on my phone and confirmed that it's already 10:15. And seeing this bunch of cleaning, it would take a while to wash them all.

"Oh well, what can I do? Better get started before time runs away from me"

"Phew! All done finally!" rolling down my sleeves I head to the living room and sit on the comfortable floor of the room.

"Huwaa…*Yaawwwnnn!*… I'm getting sleepy…" the silent room takes in my mumbling.

Checking the time for the last time, I confirmed that it's already 11 o'clock. I stand up and close the lights of the living room. I slip under the covers of the futon that they have provided. I take my time for my body to get comfortable, and close my eyes, allowing slumber to take over.

* * *

"…Ah, he's asleep…"

Plutia peeks through the corner seeing the passerby fully asleep now. It's a good thing that she slept for only just a little and not wait in the laundry room. If she had, he would have noticed it a long time ago. She stares at his sleeping figure, with the covers rising and falling ever so gently.

Plutia has been resisting to look at him head on ever since at the beach. And each time she does so, she couldn't help herself but steal glances at him. So she always distracts herself by playing with either the kids or with Nepgear. But even then, his voice is like an alarm to her and she would steal a glance once more.

Plutia likes Jared. Not on a more heartfelt level but as a best friend. Playing with him is also quite fun. He can be very silly at times and although he's jokes are quite corny, most of the time, he is still fun to be with. There are times where she would just watch him intently as he sew his clothes. Plutia has never seen another person quite skilled with the needle as well.

She also quite happy to see Neptune, her best friend, smiling so radiantly now. She too noticed that she wasn't smiling at her best. She smiles yes, and but it isn't her all. Each time there was a full moon, Neptune would just look at it sadly and she plays the ring on her finger. But now seeing that Jared here, she is happy because Neptune is also happy.

But what is this hidden desire that has been slowly rising up from within her. Slowly but surely it grows more and more as he stays within her proximity. Of course with their home being this small and the only gathering area is the living room, of course that would be expected of him to be would be within her sights.

She doesn't know what that feeling is. And each time she sees him and Neptune together, it grows more significantly. It (was like something was pushing her to commit something. Something that she knows that she will regret but ultimately knows that it will be fulfilled if she does so. What is this something?

And as she stares at him, sleeping, she knows she doesn't have time. It'll be time for him to wake up soon. She knows he goes out 3 in the morning. And the time now is 2:30. Her heart beats faster and faster. Hammering her chest as if wanting to drive out a point. W(hat is this? What this feeling of...

'_Take him…_'

"_Haa… Haa…_"

Her breathing gets rough. Her slender fingers are clamping down on the corner of the wall as if trying to crush it. She knows she can't do it, but something inside her is shoving her into doing it. It's like a thorn, an itch, a hunger, a thirst, a desire…

"Hehehe…" She transforms…

" 'Hehehe… *Lick!*' " she licks her lips. And stares at the passerby like prey. Like a feast that is offered to her.

if it were to fall into the wrong hands"ower.

" 'Let me take my time taking you…' "


	83. Chapter 83

Chapter 83:

"Hm…"

I open my eyes and see the window outside, it's still night out. I don't feel well at all. I feel tense for some apparent reason. It's at the pit of my stomach and I can't seem to figure it out. Well, maybe part of my brain is still asleep. I guess sleeping for only 4 hours is bad for the health after all. Who am I kidding, a good run would probably do the trick.

"Hm?" I try moving but I can't seem to move. Sleep paralysis perhaps? Maybe I'm still half asleep. Guess I can just go stare at the ceiling, as I wait for my brain to boot up my limbs.

" 'Aha, good mornin', boy!' "

"…" I don't think I need to wait…

Directly staring at my face is a woman with eyes that has a color scheme of a slightly darker magenta with iris blue hair. Her face is flushed in as if she is in pure ecstasy, that of a woman that has recently gotten off. And she's mounted on top of me. This has to be in the top list of clichés, right?

"What in the name of everything moral do you think you're doing?" I ask her, calmly I ask her.

" 'Hm? Playing with my toy…' " now that's disturbing.

"Get off" I tell her off, I mean, this is bad for my complexity after all. And for my heart as well.

" 'Then try to push me…' " is the madam serious? No, she is serious, and if we follow the mindset of the sadistic dominatrix woman, I'd bet my shiny black cards that can buy 2 handful of tanks that she's going to have her way one of way or the other.

Wait. Now that I think of it? Why can't I move? I mean, I am fully awake now, so why? I surprisingly I can move my head. I look around quickly, not letting her notice. And looking on my side are the horrors in the nature of the answer. There is 10mg vial and a syringe that has been recently been used. Sharpening my eyes in the darkness reveals the vial's medication: Vecuronium Bromide.

Vecuronium Bromide or Norcuron is general anaesthesia to facilitate tracheal intubation and to provide skeletal muscle relaxation during surgery in adults, neonates, infants, children and adolescents. In other words I'm paralyzed.

"…!" this woman has gone sadistic to psychotic! I could report her to the authorities on attempted rape now.

" 'Aha! Watching you cringe like that is so cute!' " she said with sadistic tone.

"Tch!" damn, how long? How long!? Vecuronium Bromide will paralyze me for 30-40 minutes. The side effects are even worst as it can prolong the paralysis or cause muscarinic block. And with how _special_ I am, I just need 5 minutes.

" 'You're like an adorable pet when you're so desperate like that…' " she goes on all fours, making her rack rub against my chest. I'm not in the mood for sexual assaults, woman.

" 'Do you like these…?' " she rubs her rack on my chest with seduction.

"I've seen better…" I answered calmly. She'll only significantly get more aggressive if I show any signs of aggression from me. Heck, if I shout… no wait, that'll be my trump card.

" 'Mine is bigger than Neppy's…' "

"I prefer hers…" dammit, at the pace that it is right now. I'll be breaking my promise against my will anytime soon.

" 'Aha, you just admit that you're pervert!' " and she's playing with my words dammit.

" 'Perverts should be punished, you know!' " she comes closer to my face sadistically. Good…

"Oh really? What do you want to do with me?" she comes closer to me, leaning her mouth next to my ear. I can hear the excited breathing from her. I

" '_All _sorts of things… like this for example… *Lick!*' " she licks my ear. Ooh, seductive indeed.

"Oh?"

" 'And this as well… Ehe…' " I can feel her knee grinding onto my groin.

" 'What do you want… boy?' "

"This…" I bring my mouth next to her ear…

"GET OFF OF ME!" …and shout as loud as I can.

" 'Tch!' "

She flinches. The moment she do, I got a bit of my strength back and push her aside. I wanted to chop her neck and be done with it but I the effect of the drug still lingers. I stand and gauge at her. I've already screamed, and it's only a matter of time…!

"…!" I hold my head. My head is in mush, I can't think straight.

"_haa… haa…_" great fucking job Norcurin, you're not helping me in the most favorable way dammit.

" 'Ahaha! So the boy wants to get rough with me, huh!? ' " the madam stands and looks at me with sadistically.

"…Ahaha… probably…" I taunt her… Not a good time to be this cocky, me.

Giving the madam a good look, against the lights from outside. Her face right now, is as though she's having the time of her life. I can see the nipples of her breast now, and are perking up and pointing towards me. And going even down further I can see that she has… um… did she just wet herself? No, that doesn't look pee at all…

"Fuck…"…she is seriously turned on.

" 'Oh you noticed. I'm so turned on right now that I want to stuff something inside me right now' " sexist.

" 'And I thought you were the softcore type…' " she summons her whip.

" 'But you're the hardcore type, aha!' " and flies it towards me.

*CRACK!*

I dodge to the side, dodging that attack. I can't fight back in the state that I'm in. The side effects are still are in effect. It'll take me a minute to get myself back together. And who knows what will happen in a minute.

"Damn it, Plutie! What the fuckin' hell is wrong with you!?"

" 'Wrong? You're misunderstanding, there is nothing wrong with me…' "

"Haa…? Gh…!" fuck! A vertigo! The world is literally spinning right before my eyes!

" 'It's just me playing with my pet!' " I try to concentrate on her, but with the world rolling over, my sense of balance is practically useless and it's tipping me over.

She swings her whip sword towards my lower g. I can hear the excited breathing from her. it I can't dodge. It wraps around my leg and she pulls me in.

*THUD!*

I fall down on my back with a large thud. I try to move my body, but due to the shock, paralysis hits me once more. Thanks Norcurin, you've helped her out. The madam walks towards me. She has a bright smile on her face. I'm not in a bright mood. She puts herself right above my face, seeing her groin directly above me, wet and still dripping wet.

" 'Aha… see this…' " she turns crooks her finger into a hook and hooked to the side a part of her one piece that covers her groin. And with her free hand, she uses index and middle fingers to open up her crack, making her dripping wet some more.

" 'I'm so excited to punish you, that I'm soooo turned on! Aha!' " her face is in pure happiness right now. I can't help myself from glaring. A little more and I'll probably use my 'eyes' against her.

"Hey, Plutie…" a voice of a woman, one that I know too well.

" 'Oh, Neppy. Just in time t…!' " she turns and…

*SLAP!*


	84. Chapter 84

Chapter 84:

A women's anger is something to be feared about. And it's not just because of that that I am absolutely loyal to my woman. If done so, it would hinder our healthy relationship to the point where it's probably stagnating. When in love, one should be afraid out of love not the other way around. You are afraid because you don't want her to cry, to get sad, to come home angry, to not eat with you during dinner or to break up with you. One should be afraid to those possibilities, and in turn, that 'scared' person will grow to love even better.

*SLAP!*

" '…!' "

"_haa… haa…_" Neptune, with a shadow over her face, huffs in air, as if trying to hold something from within her. Her hand is still raised after what she did.

" '…' " …and the madam is still looking blankly from where she had been slapped to.

Silence flooded the early morning living room. As though all forms of sound waves are being absorbed. A deafly silence that is painful to hear. I watch these two closely, I can't exactly get in the way of these two as of now, or I'd be killed. But in this situation I have feeling that I have to.

" '…' " after a moment of silence, the madam holds her cheek where she was slapped. She just holds it, as if saying she wasn't slapped in the face before now.

"Why…?" Neptune asked as she places her hand on her side. The silent room doesn't answer her.

" 'N…Ne…' " still holding her cheek, the madam slowly turned to her.

"Why? Why? Why? Why? Why!? WHY!? WHY!? WHY!? WHY!" she bellowed. It echoes around the room like a mantra that is slowly convicting a guilty man.

" 'Ne… Neppy… I ca…!' "

"You what!? Why are you whipping him around!? Why are you calling him your 'toy'!? Why did you drug him!?" she asked all the evidences before her.

" '…' "

"Why are you doing those things to him, Sadie!?" her hands are shaking.

" '…Neppy…I…!' "

"Shut up!" Neptune demands, her voice, shaking.

"I… I…"

"…I …don't want to be friends with you anymore…" a whisper. It was more like she mumbled something. But in this silence it can easily be heard.

" 'Eh…?' "

"…I… don't want to be friends with you anymore…!" she speaks louder.

"…I... I…!" she summons her sword and raised it in the air. She looks at the madam with eyes full of enmity.

"I… I…H…!" …she swings her sword down.

"Stop. Whatever you want to say, swallow it down…" I grab both of her wrists. Stopping her from swinging it down even further.

"…! I…! I…!" Neptune struggles to get me off of her.

" '…!' " giving a peek over my shoulder, the madam is looking very shocked, with eyes as wide as saucers and a mouth ajar. Guess, she didn't expect that Neptune can be angry at times.

"C'mon Neptune… let's go…!" she tries to scratch me to make me let go.

I force Neptune turn a complete 180 and guide her towards the farthest room of the hall near the elevator. I push open the door seeing Nepgear, fully wide awake as I do so. If she's awake, then I guess the kids are too…

"Si…!" I shook my head, telling her to keep silent.

Jerking my head towards the outside, Nepgear nods once and left the room in haste. Closing the door behind her, I let go of Neptune.

"…!"

*SLAP!*

"…" Ow…

She turns and slaps me. It hurts, absolutely.

"_Haa… Haa…_" she huffs in air audibly.

"...!"

*SLAP!*

She slaps me again.

"…_Haa… Haa… *hic!*…!_"

Swinging her hand once more for the third slap, I grab her hand and force her to turn a 180. I pull her close, making sure that her back would make contact with my torso. And I wrap my arms around her, tightly and gently, making sure that she'd feel a small warmth that I have penetrating her.

"…!" a little struggle, but I keep her down.

"…!" she struggles some more. Keeping her down whilst standing is takes a lot of energy. So in an effort to conserve more energy. Put my back on the door and slide down on the floor. Making us both sit and her sitting in between my legs.

After a while, there is more silence. I take a look at the window that is opposite to where the door is. A shade of blue is slowly emerging. Signaling that sunrise is about to start. A return my eyes to Neptune. She's keeping calm now, and her breathing is in control.

"…I…"

"…"

"…I said some mean things to Plutie…"

"Yeah…"

"…But… she started it…"

"I know…"

"…I don't want anyone having you…"

"I know…"

"…I don't want anyone doing bad stuff to you…"

"I know…"

"…I don't want anyone… to…" the next words eluded her.

"I know…" I pet her head.

"…What am I going to say to Plutie…?" I hug her tightly some more. I can smell her shampoo from here.

"…Let's…"

* * *

Plutia, having untransformed, sits on the floor still holding the cheek where she was slapped. She stares blankly, not minding one other person who is standing in the corner taking a peek. There was something wrong and she couldn't understand what that is. What have gone wrong? What had gone wrong? Why was she slapped on the face? And most of all, why did Neptune, her best friend, have that face?

"…Ne… ppy…"

"_I don't want to be friends with you anymore…_"

"…!" tears started to build up from her eyes. Why did Neptune said that to her? Something so mean, that even she wouldn't know how to deal with it. She thought that her Neppy would also jump in to the fun of things. But instead she was slapped on the cheek.

No, that wasn't the questions that she should be asking. The real question is, why did she do all those stuff to him? What pushed her to go as far to do that? What pushed her to go as far as to inject him with paralytic drugs? To go as far as to show him her private place wide. What pushed her into doing all those things to him?

It simply started out as an itch she can't get rid of. And each time she sees him, it grows more and more. It keep pushing and pushing her, as though it was saying that she can get away from it. As though it was saying that the world will morph afterwards to better suit her.

But what started this? Her realization that she likes him? The fact that she is unconsciously keeping tabs of him? What started that small itch? The fact that she knows that everyone during that night also likes him? The fact that each time she hears Nepgear call him, 'Big Brother' that it causes her to flinch a little?

Or maybe it was the fact that Neptune, her best friend, have already beaten her to him.

"Plutia…" she feels two hands on her head and a warm torso of another person.

"…Are you jealous of Sis?"


	85. Chapter 85

Chapter 85:

_"Are you jealous of Sis?"_

Such words struck Plutia as Nepgear asked. It was like lightning has struck her and a thousand needles pierces her at the same time. Is that really what she feels? Was that the small itch that she has been feeling? That each time he sees him it becomes more of scratch than an itch? And that each time those two are together it just made that itch more of a scratch.

Plutia has always liked the idea of friends. The concept that friends will never leave you no matter what and that they will always accept you as who you are. The bargain of it was too good to be true. Get someone you like to be friends with, show that you're all the good stuff you know, and, like magic, you're friends with them now. Enthralled as she is to the concept, she set out to make friends. Her first friend wasn't Noire, however, but, her very first friend was where she was taught how to make dolls.

There has always been a shop that she frequents to. The dolls feature all kinds of varieties, from animals, to the monsters imaged to be cute, to even popular pop culture idols. The dolls all looked cute and feel as though they are all inviting everyone to play. But the real wonder of it all was that the stuff doll maker was just a girl around the same age as Plutia.

So she always frequents that doll shop, making sure that she would get a quick chat to that girl that sells and makes dolls. They would non-stop talk about dolls and how it's fun to play with them. And each time she does so, she feels as though she is getting closer and closer to becoming friends with her.

Plutia would always visit the shop and do nothing but that chat. Plus take a nap, if the girl would allow her to enter her room. They'd play with dolls, along with a few games of course, eat and play some more together. That was their everyday.

There came a time that Plutia wanted to learn how to make dolls. So she asked her friend how to make a plush doll. Her friend was very delighted to teach her how to make one. It was the first time that anyone wanted to her to the teacher and was happy for her friend to be her first student.

From cutting the fabric to a specific pattern to learning how to use the needle correctly. The girl who is Plutia's first friend taught her many things in the art of the making dolls. And to the girl's surprise, Plutia has a natural gift for making a plush doll. So it didn't require her much work and was having fun instead as she, the teacher, goes through the Plush Doll Syllabus that she made.

Plutia graduated from her friend's education with flying colors. And both had a blast in making dolls after dolls after dolls. The girl's room are now literally swimming with dolls now. The girl has to remodel the store to put all the stuff toys they made in the shop.

All of these things were very well and good for Plutia, until that time…

There was this incident that both of them were finishing up their new signature dolls at the park. Both of them needs a few more stitches before they could say it's done. Then there was this boy that happened to pass by. No one knows what idea or genie that he had been talking to. But the boy took the doll from Plutia and quickly made a break for it.

Plutia was shocked that someone took her dolls. And her friend was also. But what really shocked her friend was what came after.

A stroke of cold wind blew… as though there was a ghost stroking her head. The air is filled with a strange noticeable feeling of anger. There was another wind, this time, as though it was telling her something, it made her look at Plutia. Her deepest corners of her soul is telling her to get away.

* * *

"_Um… Plutia…_"

"_Sorry, but can I go for a bit… I'll be back, I promise…_"

* * *

Plutia shows her a fake smile. A smile that got all her hair stand up to the ends. She couldn't speak, she couldn't move. All she could do was stare back. She doesn't know what kind of face she is making to her friend right now, but all she could register was that smile that Plutia showed.

Plutia ran for it. Generally she is slow. Like that of a very sleepy man that runs while slowly falling asleep. But the boy is small, and would have small strides with it. Since Plutia is at her teens at the time, she would have bigger strides compensating for the lack of speed.

She follows the boy everywhere. The boy runs around the town, trying to shake her off. Her turns to every alley and sidewalk. He turns to everywhere his instincts tell her, but each time he looks back it's as though the girl can ping him wherever he goes. He runs a bit faster, randomly turning each time but he still wouldn't shake her. He turns once more to an ally with darted to the very end. But there is a wall hindering him and it's too high up for him to climb.

* * *

"_Ehehehe… I caught you bad boy…_"

"_Haa… haa… What do you want!? Haa… haa…_"

"_I want to give me my doll back…_"

"_Haa… Here take it!_"

*THUD!*

The boy threw the doll to the ground. It bounces in front of Plutia's feet.

"_Huh…?_" the boy feels shivers. Every hair on him standing up. He is also sweating too. A small wind blew by but it was cold as ice.

"_That wasn't very nice, y'know…_"

"_Huh... Ah…_" the boy wouldn't couldn't move, he was paralyzed in place. He tries to look at her but something is stopping him from looking.

"_Bad boy should be punished, y'know…!_"

"_Eeeeeek!_"

"_Plutia…Eeeeek!?_"

* * *

The girl, her friend, called her as she peeks through the alleyway. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. It was pure horror, it was as something that came straight out of a movie. She watched Plutia, beating the boy up senseless. The boy has bruises all over him.

* * *

"_C'mon, c'mon. If you don't apologize you'll get punished even more…!_"

"_I…I'm so..!_"

"_C'mon, c'mon…!_"

"_Haa…haa… Pl… Plu… Plu…!_"

"_C'mon, c'mon. Apologize!_"

"_Plu… Plu… Plu…!_"

"_I…I'm so so..!_"

"_C'mon, c'mon!_"

"_Please…! I'm so so..!_"

"_Plu… Plu… PLUTIA!_"

* * *

Her memories after that part was blurry. Or maybe she is afraid to look at that part of the tape. Afraid to know what it contains. So she would hid that part of the tape deep within herself. Hiding it from the rest and even to her. But if that part of the tape was to be given a title. It would contain everything that she has been afraid off all this time…

I don't want to be friends with you anymore.


	86. Chapter 86

Chapter 86:

"Are you jealous of Sis?" Nepgear asked as she bravely hugged the shocked Plutia.

"…Mhmhm…" Plutia shook her head. She tries to hold onto her tears, as best as she could. But the pain in her cheek wouldn't let her last a bit longer.

"…Sorry, Neppy Jr. I made you worry…" Plutia gave out a smile to her. But even Nepgear knows that she's trying to hold something in.

"…It's okay. I can't leave you looking like that after all..." But Nepgear knows better. And she also knows what's going to happen after.

"I'll go and let the kids sleep. They're probably awake from the commotion…" Nepgear let's her go and stands up.

"Sorry for the trouble…"

"Don't think about it. Want me to turn on the lights?"

"Mhm…" Nepgear turns on the lights in the living room and headed towards the door nearest to the kitchen area.

"Good luck, Plutia…" Nepgear enters Histy's room leaving only that. Accompanying Plutie with only silence.

Plutia looks around her room, seeing only how empty and void it is now. It is usually bustling with life, with screams and cheers in the morning but at night it's almost as if it was abandoned. She doesn't actually like the silence. Peace and quiet would only allow memories to catch up to her. Making her remember the days after that incident.

As though her memories was a ghost with unfinished business…

"Plutie…" Neptune came out from the corner. She looks at her best friend whose face has a shadow over. She sits before Plutia, who, is trying to find the words to say to her.

"…I like dolls… they're very, very friendly…" Plutia's mouth flies away from her.

For Plutia, after that incident, dolls were the only thing that never left her. For better or worst, it would was the only thing that kept her company. They silently comfort her as well as watch over her. During all the things before meeting her second friend, they were there for her.

Meeting Noire made her nervous. As much as both of them are, she's probably the most conscious out of the two. She watches herself more, than she watches Noire trying to win her over. She's very much afraid to replay that part of the tape. But that doesn't mean that being with Noire didn't rescue something inside of her.

Something inside her that she thought that had was flawed. She thought that, after the incident, she wasn't capable of making friends. She could say that it was a miracle that Noire came to her and asked if she wanted to be her friend, although they have been together for quite a time. But it was some sort of epic ecstasy. That somehow, she still has it in her to be able for anyone to be considered as a friend.

Becoming CPU was an opportunity for her. Although she considers Noire as her friend. And since her epiphany, she wants to add more to the roster. And the first one after she became a CPU was Histoire. That tiny fairy was so cute who wouldn't want being friends with her. Although she knows that Histoire became friends with her by how she had acted and emanated towards her, she still stuck around her.

And after chartering Planeptune, raising a country that is near the beach. Noire wanted to become a CPU as well. Although she doesn't understand why, Plutia followed her to a forest where Noire believed that she will become a CPU. That was when, there from the sky. Her next friend came down from the sky.

Neptune came down from the sky and landed on Noire. It was a shocking moment for her, because she hasn't seen anyone falling from the sky, land on Noire and still laughs about it. Neptune, at face value, looks as though she was a very friendly person. And it didn't need a day or two for that aspect as well. Because she knows that their conversation speaks of how friendly they are already.

Being with Neptune was so much fun. It was like literally having a sister that has the same wavelength as her. Both of them were to sleep together, eat together, make Noire angry over nothing. It was as though Neptune was that same girl that she had fun with once upon a time.

3 more years after, Blanc was her next friend in her circle of friends. That was why she suggested to be her friend in the first place. On top of Blanc being absurdly cute when she cries, she also see a small part of herself after from that incident. When her dolls were the only thing that accompanied her.

The next set of friends were IF, Compa and Peashy. She really shouldn't call them friends since she is technically their caregiver. The kids are always rowdy around her. They always play to sleep, color until there aren't anymore paper, and read some picture books if there's time after all that.

Her next friend was Vert, she was great help during the Lowee incident. If it wasn't for her, they wouldn't have gotten out of the basement under Lowee. Also, Plutia always puts a smile on her face when Vert wants to steal Nepgear from Neptune. And it was always fun to look at.

All those friends, 8 in total. Even she wouldn't have guessed that she would have so many friends. She may have acted _that _each and every time she transforms, but they never really told her off. Rather they shrugged that part of her off. A little shocked, but still shrugged it off.

Then came, him. Who wasn't shocked at his appearance during a chaotic Leanbox? Who wasn't shocked to see him fight, 2 of the Seven Sages? Who wasn't shocked to hear that he was Neptune's fiancee? Who wasn't shocked to lose against a 5 on one fight? Who wasn't shocked to know that all of them have fallen for him?

He was eccentric, enigmatic, kind and more. As though 'more' is just an understatement when describing him. He was her first love. It was kind of a wonder to her, how friends would grow to boyfriends and girlfriends. Sometimes, she would get jealous of Neptune. How both of them interact. How both of them tease each other. How both of them understand each other. How both of them feel as though that they are gods and goddesses outside of reality.

And despite that she was actually happy to see her bestest friend, Neptune, smiling so radiantly. As her friend, she was proud to see her like that. It got even more fun when she smiles like that. So she doesn't mind if her feelings were never voiced out.

But each time she looks at those too, so close together as if they both know each other's hearts, it made her heart quench. It was as though that those two are heading somewhere unreachable. At some place where she can't even fathom. At some faraway place where no one can even have a glimpse of them. And more so of the fact that that boy was someone that swept her off her feet with each and every surprise. She couldn't take it…

She about to miss out on her bestest friend again. She was about to miss out on her first love. She couldn't take that fact. That small itch turned into a scratch more and more each and every time that uncomfortable feeling itches.

"...That's why I did that…*hic!*..."

"Be-Because… *sob!*... I-I…!"

"...I don't want…! *hic!* *sob!* *hic!*... L-lose…!"

"A-a-any m-m-more, friends! *sob!*"

"*hic!*...*hic!*...S-sorry… N-n-n-n…!"

"...!"

Without much of a second thought, Neptune hugs Plutia tightly almost as if clinging to her. Plutia is wide eyed…

"...N-Neppy…?"

"...I'll never, never, never leave my friend!" she declares.

"I thought you…!"

"I'm sorry!"

"...Eh?"

"I'm sorry that I said something mean to you"

"We're still going to be best buds! I might go back to my dimension, but that doesn't mean that we won't be buds right?"

"So please. Don't ever say something like that..." she peels of from Plutia and gave her a heartwarming smile.

"...Really?"

"Mhm!"

"Really, really?"

"Mhm! Mhm!"

"Really, really, really?"

"Mhm! Mhm! Mhm!"

"*hic!* *sob!* *hic!*... Waaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

"Ooh, here comes the waterworks!" Neptune gave out a small cry, while patting the crying the Plutia.

* * *

"Although we are now buds… there is one thing I have to put it out first"

After a few more minutes of sobbing her eyes out. The two sat on the floor leisurely as they face the window waiting for the sunrise. The sky right now has it's darkness slowly vanishing from the east.

"Hm?"

"I can't have you do something like to Jared again!"

"Ahaha…"

"Seriously, I almost had heart attack from that..."

"...Sorry..."

"But you like Jared, huh?"

"Mhm! I think my heart goes, 'bump, bump!' whenever I see him"

"I see… Then would you like to confess to him?"

"Eeh!?" Plutia seems flustered.

"Though a confession is all you can do actually" Neptune says something harsh.

"...B-But… It's the first time that I've ever confessed to a boy…!"

"It'll be easy peasy! I'll be there with you! Okay?"

"B-But…!"

"C'mon, it's just 3 simple words! What's the harm? Right, Jared?"

"...Geez, you just have to blow my cover as well..." I came out of the corner.

"Isn't it rude to eavesdrop a girl's conversation?" Neptune said.

"No. Probably..." I'm not so sure myself. I'm always eavesdropping on women's conversation.

"..."

"Oh, right, right. This is a confession scene, c'mon Plutie! Confess your unrequited feelings for him like a schoolgirl behind the school confession!" Neptune puts Plutie after her.

Plutie looks up and down on the floor. Trying to find the smallest courage to help her right now. And she peaks every once in a while as though trying to guage me if I'm getting tired of waiting. I was, but now, i just want to make breakfast already. She opens her mouth…

"I… I..." she speaks in a small voice…

"...I l-l-l-l..."

"...ove you..."

"..."

"I… I… I…"

"...I love you… Jared..."

"Thanks... " I walk towards her, and raise my hand…

"...I appreciate it..." and put it down on her head. Petting it.


	87. Chapter 87

Chapter 87:

Someone who is talented, is just nothing more than someone who found something that suits that person well. He found a passion for something, and then sets his mind into improving it. To an ordinary person, they'll just say that he's too talented and that his level of skill cannot be reached. Although true, an ordinary person can still be 'talented' in their own way.

Try out a bunch of skills until you say that you are average. Then collect even more average skills until you have set of skills in your arsenal. Having those skills around you makes you a bit above the average. Never giving up can also have difference. People can truly achieve so much more as long as they don't give up. Cliché as it may sound, but it is true. Heck, you might even find a talent that is lying dormant inside you. Where giving it a push was all it needs to call it a 'talent'.

Never giving up, trying a bunch of skills, and being open minded about it, is a talent it and of itself, after all.

"And so I woke up with this…"

*SIZZLE!* *SIZZLE!*

"Hmm~ Hmm~ Oh Jared! Morning!" the girl gave me a morning smile as she turns away from her cooking for a minute.

"Um… yeah, good morning…"

After a week from Plutia's confession, we've been living how we are always living. Mostly a lot of doing nothing. Of course, I have to keep an eye for the kids since I have to raise them properly, this is the time where they learn how to 'work' essentially speaking.

Anyway back to this... um… mystery? One could call it that… I mean this is a mystery in and of itself after all. The girl hums in delight while moving her hips left and right as if creating tune with the sizzle of the pan. Is this actually real!? Am I still asleep!? This is Neptune we are talking about right?

"Um… Who are you and what have you done to fiancée?" standing up to this disbelief I asked the woman who is cooking scrambled eggs.

"Nepu?"

"Neptune doesn't normally cook, heck, I don't know if she does. So if you're her stunt double, tell me where she is"

"Geez, how mean! I can cook you know!" she stick out her tongue at me.

"I only cook sometimes. So no one notices it, except for Compa" so Compa taught her huh? Why didn't that girl tell me?

"Really? So what brought you to cooking for breakfast?" I lean on the counter watching her movements. It is a lovely scene that is bringing a tear in my eye.

"Because the readers are probably thinking that when we get married, you'll still be doing all the cooking"

"Well, yeah. I do get the 'this guy is should just be a house husband!' or something like that all the time…"

"See! That's why I'll cook for you this time. Being static and not being all lovey dovey and stuff once in a while is bad for our reputation in the readers' community!" our reputation isn't that bad. Right?

Neptune continues to stir the egg as though she is treating it like a risotto. And also it's kinda funny how her hips shake as well. Then she takes the sauce pan off the stove, and continues to stir it still. After a while she heads to the refrigerator and takes out small container containing crème fraiche. She pops open it open, take a table spoon, scoop up half a table spoon and put it in the sauce pan. She stirs a bit more.

"Anyway, where are the others? Seems like I slept like a log if haven't noticed the others" interesting late night news are hard to comeby.

"They said that they're going shopping!"

"I see… are the kids with them?"

"Mhm!"

She seasoned it with salt and pepper. She takes a plate, scoops some rice from the rice cooker to the plate, place the scrambled eggs on top and she finished it off by sprinkling some ketchup. She puts it on the table counter, and gave me a spoon to work with.

"Taste my wonderful, wonderful food!"

"Sure…" I scoop up the egg first…

"Amf… Mmm… Mgm…" this is um… well how do I say this…

"How is it? I betcha you want to eat some more!"

"…"

To be honest, and I'm not over my head or anything like that, the egg salty and overcooked and the rice is wet. I can mind some crisp in the egg. I swear I can taste something burnt inside. And it's salty to boot. And the rice has too much water in it, that I'd consider this as rice porridge than actual rice.

"So what ya think?" and breaking the news to her would just be terrible.

"…" how should I approach this? Telling her would be terrible, and not telling her would also be just as terrible. Think me, think. Teaching is just as terrible. I mean, if we look at Nepgear, which we will disclose next time, you would know why.

"…Let's play some games..." I know playing games early in the morning is bad for the conjecture but I can't think of an excuse.

"Nepu!? You didn't tell me about my cooking yet!"

"Don't sweat the small stuff, see, I just finished the whole plate…" I think I'll suffer from dehydration from all the excess sodium inside my body.

"C'mon, tell me! Tell me! Say that my food is great!" Neptune stops me by grabbing my sleeves. I can't dammit! I can't tell her!

"...Um…" my pride as a chef is just stopping me from me doing it! I mean the food isn't that bad. You can still swallow it. No wait, that's wrong! The fuck!

"…*Sigh*…" okay… let's pick our words carefully.

"The food was… terribly wonderfully, interesting…" to say the least.

"Then it's good?"

"Let's just play some games…" I can't answer that.

"Hey, tell me if it's good or not?" now she's shaking me.

"Tell me!" great, now she's shaking me even harder. I guess there is always that option but it seems kinda shallow to do it for such a reason though.

Moving pass the counter, to the kitchen of course, I pull her by the arm and planted my lips on hers without a second delay.

"Mm…"

"Mm… *Smack* Mm…"

"Nn… mmm, nnhu, *Smack!* *Slurp!*…nn…*Slurp!* *Lick!* Nn… *Smack!* *Lick!* *Kiss!* *Kiss!*"

I've got to admit. This girl can turn an intended normal kiss to a deep French one.

"*Slurp!* *Smack!*…mm! Mm… *Lick!* *Slurp!* *Kiss!* …nn…*Kiss!* Hamu, mm… *Slurp!*…"

We touch lips over and over. Tongue into each other's mouths as though seeking pleasure from it.

"Jared…" we separate from our act. Her mouth is still open with her tongue still slightly revealed, touching her lower lip.

"That's mean…"

"You're just getting turned on..."

"Geez… and you haven't said anything about my food yet, you bully"

"I'd prefer eating Neptune instead…"

"Cheezy pervert…"

"You're one to talk…"

The girl's temperature rises under my arms. She gives off a sweet scent that tickles my heartstrings. I kiss her again. Our lips never get sick of tasting one another.

"Mm… *Kiss* *Smack* *Lick* *Slurp*… *Slrrp* *Lick* Mm… mmm! … *Schlrp!* *Schmack!* *Schlick!*"

"Mm…"

Our tongues taste each other. Her mouth have grown hotter in no time.

"*Schmack!* Mm…! Npu, nn, *Schlurp!*…*Schlurp!* *Schhlick!* *Schllrp!* *Slrrp!* *Lick!* *Slrrp!* Mm…!"

Gentle warmth engulfs us, as both of us immerse in each other's arms. Her lovely lips intoxicates me even more for her like a drug.

"Mm…*Smack!* *Slurrp!*… mm! Nna… 'ared… *Kiss!* *Smack!* *Slurp!* *Lick!*… *Lick!* *Kiss* *Slrp!*…"

"*Slurp!* *Smack!* *Smack!*…mm… mmha…" her face is flushed with red right now that it looks awfully cute.

"Turn around…"

With obedience she turns around. I hold her tight as I can, while resting my back on the counter. With familiar movements, I unbutton the N on her mini hoodie and unzip the purple dress underneath revealing her exposed breast and stripped panties. I slip my hands on her crotch and on her breast.

"Hahu, nn… Mm… haa, ah… nnn… nn, hahu, huuu… ha, ah…"

Neptune starts touching me too. She takes my thing out of my pants and caresses it with slender fingers. The throbbing stimulus runs through my whole body.

"…You're already so hard… nnhu,_ haa, haa, haa_... ahu, huu… nnn!"

"Says the woman who is dripping wet as always…"

"Nnn…! B-But… we… haven't… done i… ahu! Nn… haa, haa… ha! Auu…"

"I see, you've become quite a pervert now"

"G-Geez! B-bully… I- I'm no… Nepuu! Jared… Aha, ah… huuu!"

I caress the parts that I'm touching, as though trying not to break a fragile glass. I softly squeeze Neptune's chest and rub her crotch.

"Aan…! Touching each other like this… feels like… we're doing it… ha! Ahu… nnn… nuuu…"

I pull her panties partway down. Her fluids form strands between the cloth and her crevice.

"Hua…!"

"See? Wet like a pervert…" I still tease her.

"Aha… ha! Ahuu… I-I'm not… Bully… Pervert…"

Still continuing her slander. I bring some of that nectar up from her crotch and rub it over a bulging object atop of her entrance.

"Nnhaa…! Th-That's good… it's tingling… J-Jared… nnn!"

An expected moan escapes her, but the way her whole body convulses and the sound of it gets to me every time.

I rub the skin covering the clitoris, squishing it left and right. Her knees shake as if she's about to collapse.

"Yaa! Ah…! J-Jared… Ah…nnnn! If you play with… that… I can't sta…aannn…!"

Neptune tries to rub me much harder to distract herself from my caress. It's a cute futile effort to make my fingers slow down if I feel good enough.

"Ha! Nnuu… hiunn! Jared! I… I won't be able to… nnn!"

"I got you, so it's fine…"

I escalate my rubbing of her chest, pinching her nipples and rolling them around.

"Neeppuu…! Aauu, nn… uha…! You're so mean… touching my sensitive places… nn! Haa, haa, haa!"

"Aren't you also doing it…"

Neptune is rubbing the tip of my member with her palm, since her first plan of stopping me failed.

"Hiunnn…nn! Are you feeling it?"

"I am feeling a lot, so don't worry about that front…"

"Aau…nn! Th-that's good… haa, haa, haa… nha! Ah, nnn!"

It seems she thinks more of my pleasure than her own. It is natural to think that way if you're in a long term relationship.

So as a reward. I pinch her nipples a little stronger, pulling on them.

"Neeppuuuu!"

When I let go of them, I pinch her clitoris, squeezing it so it bulges out from between my fingers.

"Nepuuu…waah!"

I move my fingers carefully, pushing the skin off her clitoris. The little thing reveals itself.

"Ahu, ah…! Nnn, nn…! Ahn… J-Jared that's… higu! Huuuunn…"

Neptune's not rubbing me much anymore. Guess my attacks are overpowering her, unlike the last time we did it like this in the bath.

"Hiu…! Nn! Ha! Ha! Ha…! Jared... so good… ah! _Haa, haa_…"

"Hrm.. now is a good time than ever…"

I suddenly change tactics. I move away from her clitoris and down to her vagina. Her usual wetness soaked my fingers like always.

"Ah…! Nhu… nhua… huaaaa… ahu, nn…"

Well lubricated, I slide my finger inside her.

"Haaaa… Jared, your finger… it's rubbing around… uhu, nn…! Haa, haaaaa…"

I stir my finger gently around, as though trying to take its measurements carefully. With vacant eyes, she started caressing me again.

The stirring of my fingers made perverse noises on top of her moaning. Her juices are already drenched the floor and more are still coming out.

"Haaaaaannn… ahu, uuunn… ha! Nn, nnn… haa, haa, haa... nhu, nn…!" Neptune writhes sweetly, it makes me want to hold her tightly.

She continues caressing my firm, swollen thing. Her hand is moving in a unique technique that do feel good.

"Nhu, nn…! Jared… haa, haa, haa!" she says my name from the waves of pleasure.

"Aha…ahu, nnn…nnuu… nhu, haaa… aau, nn! Nnn… hahu, huuu…"

I immerse myself in her genitalia. Before I know it, I feel a small pain that is building up from within.

"Jared…" Neptune looks over her shoulder with pleading eyes. I guess she has the same idea as me.

"I know… how do you want to do it today? You on top?"

"I want to do it first…"

"Sure…"

We both kiss as I guide her to the well carpeted living area. Before anything, we both full take off our clothes. I sit on the floor with legs spread open emphasizing on my tower. Neptune goes on all fours and crawls towards my penis.

"Jared's penis… *kiss*"

"Uu…" she kisses the tip. Every man's weakness…

"Mm…*Smack!* *Shlp* *Shmak!*… Jared's penis… *Lick*… *Slrrp* Mm…"

Pleasure races up my back. Neptune's tongue techniques had grown and are still growing. And she's not using her hands right now to top it off.

"*Lick*…*Slick!* *Smack* *Schlurp*…mm… *Lick*…*Slrrp!* *Slurp!* *Schmak!*…*Smack*…"

Neptune's tongue crawls up from my base and twists around my hip and carefully licks up and down the glans. And she's still not using her hands. One could say that this is a talent of itself.

"*Slrrp!* *Schlrrp!* *Slrpp!*…mm… Jared's penis is so tasty…"

She said while rubbing my thing with her tongue as though it was a Popsicle.

She worked her way once more to the tip, with mouth wide open.

"Ahmpf… nmm… mm… *Smack!*…*Lick*… *Slurp!*…"

I bend back without thinking when she puts me inside her mouth. A thick warm object swirls round my shaft as though it wants to coil around it.

"Nn… *Smack!* *Lick!* Mm… *Slrp!* *Smck!*…*Schmk!* Nnn, mnn *Smack!* *Smack!*"

Without realizing it, I've been gritting my teeth and breathing through them. Damn, Neptune's a natural.

"Nm, *Slurp!* *Smack!*…*Smack!* Mm, mpf… *Lick!* *Schlick!*…*Smack!* *Slurp!* Nm…"

The wet ring of her lips rubs me up and down. I feel my tip being licked, then the sides, then everywhere else. The small dull pain earlier is now getting bigger.

"*Lick*…*Slrrrp!* *Slrp!* *Smack!* *Suck!*…*Smack!*…"

"Nmm…*Lick!* *Smack!* nmm… *Smack!* *Schlurp!* *Slurp!*…*Suck!* *Lick* *Smack!* *Smack!*…"

She moves her head rhythmically while stimulating the part that is inside her with her tongue.

"*Lick!* *Kiss!* Nn! Nnpu! *Smack!* *Surp!* *Srrp!* *Lick!* *Slrrrp!*…*Shmack!*"

MY lower body gets hotter, and my chest feels a strange pressure. I'm panting like a dog, trying to hold in the dull pain in I have right now.

"Nhm! *Slrrp!* *Slurp!* *Lick!* …*Smack!* Mm… Mm… *Smack!* *Slurp!* Nn, nmm…"

Neptune realizes that I'm close. She concentrates everything on the thing that is insider her mouth and sped up.

"Nnm! *Shlrp!* Mm! Mm! *Smack!* *Suck!* *Suck!* Mm, mpf, *Smack!* *Lick!*"

I see sparks flash before my eyes, the dull pain in my shaft builds up to a point where I can't hold it in anymore.

"Nnm, *Smack!* *Lick!* *Lick!*…!"

"N-Neptune…!"

"Mmmmmm!? Mgh! Mm! Mnmg…!"

I release my load into her mouth. The load that I've released is so much that some of it spills out from Neptune's mouth. Semen and saliva leaks drizzles on the carpet floor.

"Mm… mm… *Slrrrrp!*…*Gulp!*"

"Hnnnng!"

Neptune sucks more, wringing out every last drop that I could offer her. And at the same time, she gulps down the contents.

"*Slrp!* *Slrrrrrp!* Mmg… *Gulp!* *Gulp!*… Mnmgf… *Smack!* *Schlurp!*"

"*Suck!*…*Gulp!* *Gulp!*…*Slrrrp!* *Smack!*…Fuaa… *Gulp!*"

After Neptune gulping down her fill, she raised herself from her all fours position to a kneeling one. Still in a sitting position crossed legged, I slip my feet under her until my penis is pointing on her excited wet entrance. Grabbing onto my shoulders, I wrap my arms around her as she lowers herself.

"Nnn… Mnnnn…!"

She rubs her entrance to the tip, opening it up as she lowers down.

"Mnnnn… Nnnn…"

Her flesh wraps around me, I push out her nectar and fill her up completely.

"Nnah… Mnn… So… Nnnn… deep!"

Neptune lowers some more and more, I can feel her butt now sitting on lap. I'm all the way inside her.

"Nhaaa… ah, aaah…!"

Neptune writhes with ecstasy.

"Haa, haa… I love you, Jared…"

"I love you too…"

Exchanging those simple magical words to each other. Neptune bounces up and down on my lap, audibly making noises.

"Nnn! Aah… mm, nn… Fhaa! Nn…!"

"Ah, aah… Haa, mnn, nnn…! Ah, nn…"

Hot fluids pour out every time Neptune lowers her hips and brings me inside. Sticky fluid spread out around my lap and hip.

"Ha, ah, nn…! Nhaa! Mn, haa, fwaa… ha…!"

Neptune leaps up. Several strand of fluid stretch from my lap.

"Unn, nn…! Nhaah…! Ah, hiin! Nn, mn, mmm!"

"Haa… mn, uun… Ja-Jared…! Haa, haa…!"

"Ah, ha…! Nnha, hi! Huu… ah, ah… haaa… huu! Nn!"

Neptune starts moving faster. The room is literally echoing the audible wet sounds that we make. My tip knocks her womb as she falls down, and she sucks my penis, clamping on it as she rises.

"Ah, ah, ah…! Jared…! Jareed…! This is too good! It's reaching all the way inside me!"

As she bounces, I capture the cute, quivering tips of her chest and gently fondle them.

"Nepu...ah…! Ah, nn! Nnn…! Ah, if you play with my chest! I can't move…!"

"If you can't. Then let me help you out…"

"Nepu…? Nepppuuuu!?"

I thrust from below.

"Nhaaah! Ha! Ah! Ah! Ahn…! Nn! Haa… ha! Mn… uha…!"

Neptune grasps the rhythm and starts moving in time with me.

I start penetrating deeper and deeper with each thrust. And every so often, knocking on her womb sends a fierce pleasure through me.

"Ha, nn…! Ja! Jared…! R-rough…! Nhaa, fwaaah, ah! Ah!"

It feels like something heavy is building up once more around my abdominal muscles.

"Ha! Aaannn…! J-Jareed…! It's too much…! I can't move…! Haa, haa, haa…!"

I move my hands down to Neptune's butt. I grab it firmly and thrust deep into her as I force it to go fall.

"Aan! Aannn! Ah, nn, ah…! Ah, ha, nha… ahn..! Nn! Fwaaah…!"

I can't say enough how cute Neptune's ecstatic look is as she moans. I continue moving in and out.

"Ah! Ah! Ah….! Ha! Th-that's good…! Mn…! Uu, haa, haa, haa…!"

"Gh…!"

Pushing up takes a real effort if she's clamping on me. And as I do so with the rest of my momentum, thick white fluid starts flowing out of her.

"Ah! I-I…! Ca…n't…! Ah! I'm…! I-I'm… about… to…! Ah… nuu… hihu! Mm…!"

"Gh…!"

"Ah! AAh! Ahn…! I'm… I'm…!"

Neptune hugs me tightly for dear life. A burning white sensation flashes from within. Without any breath, I use all the strength I have left for one final thrust.

"Uu…!"

"Hiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…!"

I thrust into her as deep as I can, knocking on her womb, and releasing inside. Her fluids all gush out of her like sprinkler.

"Ah…ha… uu…!"

I throb periodically inside her, making hot fluid rush into her.

Her who whole body shakes fiercely. Her insides contract tightly, sucking the semen up out of me. We hold onto each other for dear life as the lingering sensations from the climax gradually subside.

We both stay like that for a while, each feeling each other's heartbeats beating the same rhythm.


	88. Chapter 88

Chapter 88:

"Jar- Jar, teach me how to cook!"

"Haa?" I stopped slicing the carrots and look at Compa, who is before the counter, which is before me, in pure dumbstruck.

We're still living normally full of uneventful things. Neptune and Plutie are all just, well, lazing around, except for Nepgear, at least she's trying to help Mini-Histy run this country properly. The kids are still playing like always. Right now the girls are watching some comedy show that I find lightly funny and lightly annoyed. So instead of watching, I'm chopping up some carrots for Roasted Carrots with Feta and Parsley, our lunch of course, when suddenly kid Compa called with great enthusiasm.

"I want to learn how to cook!"

"That's the spirit Compa!" kid-Iffy cheered.

"She'll make good food!" as well as Peashy.

"A…ha?" now this is surprising.

"What's with the ruckus Big Brother?" Nepgear asked, unable to ignore the ruckus.

"Apparently Compa wants to learn how to cook…"

"Compa wants to learn a new skill? That's supericious!" Neptune said.

"Yeah, and it's a problem…" I appreciate the kid's eagerness to learn but the problem is me…

"Eeh, Whyyyy?" Plutie asked.

"I have the tendency of making anyone under me to learn every 5 star meal in a single day…"

"That's um… (*^▽^*)ゞ" mini-Histy just scratches her head.

"Ahahaha…" Nepgear tries to find the words. She knows first hand how I teach people how to cook.

"Eeh, so you don't want to teach me?" sad kid-Compa is sad.

"I can, but…" my mental state of me being the teacher in cooking, _especially _in cooking, is extremely warped. Heck, the kid might not want to learn anymore because of my wits.

"Then, why don't you teach her every 5 star meal in a single day then?" Neptune asked.

"Compa is going to be a top chef!"

"Well, it's…" I remember the time that I was teaching Nepgear that Chicken Tikka Masala for Vert.

* * *

"…_What are you doing Nepgear!? The chicken is still raw and the curry sauce taste like spicy salty poo!_"

"_I-I'm sorry!_"

"_Do it again!_"

"_Yes!_"

* * *

"Ooh, a flashback! Don't we have too many of these lately?" Neptune asked.

"We get so many flashback lately!" Plutie said her observation.

"Please stop talking nonsense, both of you…(-_-)" mini-Histy said.

* * *

"_Ugh, why does the onions look like they haven't been cooked enough!? And the chicken is still undercooked that I can still hear it crowing! Do it again!_"

"_Yes!_"

* * *

"And 15 minutes later…"

* * *

"_The chicken is overcooked this time!? Are you trying to kill Vert! And my gawd almighty, the sauce is too fucking spicy that it's burning through me! You're making food! Not a deadly weapon!"_

_"Sorry! I-I'll do it again!"_

_"You better do!"_

* * *

"In the end I did it 3 more times until it was absolutely perfect…" Nepgear ended with that statement.

"Ahahahaha! The chicken is moaning! Ahahahahaha!" Neptune laughs while holding her stomach.

"That is quite the experience…「(⌒_⌒;)" mini-Histy scratching her head.

"…Sorry for that Nepgear, I am not worthy to be your brother-in-law now…" maybe I should cut open my stomach and pull out my gut. It'd be really honorable.

"Um, I won't hold it against you, Big Brother. In fact it was kind of an eye opener"

"Really? Now that's a relief…" I was worrying over nothing. Well we are talking about Nepgear after all.

"Then, Jarey's a meanie when he teaches?" Plutie asked.

"Well, not technically. It's only in the kitchen side of things" that's why I advise people not to learn how to cook from me. I have a warped why of teaching dishes.

"I thought you said you prefer home cooking 「(°ヘ°)" Histy said for clarification.

"I do actually, but to a certain degree of course" for example, I appreciate Neptune's cooking but it's too salty that anyone could cringe.

"And also, Nepgear came to me for help. I did warn her that I'm way too warped on the cooking-teaching department" I remember my squad back then that survived my hell's kitchen. No 5 star dish was left unlearned.

"Still, saying that the sauce taste like salty poo is over the top.（*＾-＾*）"

"I know, right" I don't think I can fix this part of me, for better or for worst.

"There you have it, Compa. I can't teach you how to cook" I really don't want her to get traumatized.

"Poo…"she seems disheartened.

"But I want to learn how to cook like Jar- Jar…"

"But I didn't said that you'd stop learning how to cook"

"Then…!" kid-Compa looks up with sparkle in her eyes.

"Nepgear can teach you, though"

"Eeh?" Nepgear seems to be shocked.

"Isn't that exciting Compa? You'll get to learn how to cook!" Plutie pets kid-Compa's head.

"Mhm! Mhm!"

"Wait… I don't know if I can do it…"

"Geez, don't be all so negaty! Teacher Gear!" her Big Sis encourages.

"Just as she said, it's pretty easy to teach someone and way easier to someone who's determined" I'd do it if I can, but since I'm a passerby with a warped head, I don't want Compa to lose that confidence in cooking.

"B-But I don't know where to start…"

"Well for starters. You could teach her how to prepare the rice, it'll be easy" with this she would be sold on being the teacher.

Nepgear ponders and ponders. Of course, being a teacher is a pretty hard job. And with kids nowadays that are easily swayed, one should be careful when teaching something new. They'll easily misunderstand things if we carelessly throw words at them. That's why a teacher's job is difficult, and awe inspiring. And also you look pretty darn cool when kids looks up to you.

"Okay! C'mon Compa let me teach you how to cook the rice…" Nepgear urges as she accepted her role.

"Okay!" kid-Compa follows Nepgear to the kitchen. Since I'll be getting in the way of things, I move out of the kitchen and continue my chopping on the other side of the counter.

"Yay! clap! clap! clap! clap!" Plutie claps her hands as both of them starts preparing the rice.

"Yay! Compa's going to be a good cook!" kid-Iffy cheered.

"Food! Food!" and Peashy demands food.

"Why don't you both join her? (^^" Histy asked.

"Hmhmm, like the words of a wise man said, 'it's never too late to learn'!" she declares thus.

"I want to eat food! Not make food!" and such a childish answer.

"Ooh! Finally someone understands me!" Neptune said.

"In your case however, it's a problem if you still don't know how to cook. (-_-)"

"Nepu! I can cook too! Right, Jared?"

*CHOP!* *CHOP!* *CHOP!* *CHOP!*

"Guah! He completely ignored me!"

"Well, to say the least, it's… quite… um…" I can't seem to find the words.

"…Gh! Fine, tell it to me straight mister!" she puff out her chest put her hands on her hips.

"The egg is too salty and it's overcooked" I instantly answer the moment she gave me the go ahead. Phew, that was a load off my chest.

"Nepuuu~~…" a sad Neptune is sad.

"Haha, Neptuna is bad cook!" Peashy laughs at her.

"Gh! The gloves are off you little troublemaker!" Neptune charges towards Peashy.

"Hmhmm! Peashy Punch!" Peashy released an unorthodox uppercut.

"Guah!" it hits Neptune's plexus. Her breath literally blew away from her.

*DING!* *DING!*

"Gh…"

"Hrm…" kneeling down to her, I check her pulse.

"She's alive…"

"Peashy, I know that you two are playing, but shouldn't you just give her leg lock rather than a punch in the gut?"

"Hahaha! Peashy won!" Iffy cheered.

"Mhm, Neptuna's weak!" Iffy and Peashy high fived.

"Gh..." Neptune's eyes opened and she look at the blank ceiling above.

"You okay, Neptune?"

"I see a light…"

"Um…"

"It's calling for me…" oh shit…!

"I don't hear anyone calling Neppy?"

"…It's a very beautiful light…" she still mumbles some more.

"Don't go there! Turn around and a walk away!" I shout, hoping that her soul would hear its echo.

"Ah, it's a dude… he's asking for my name…"

"Don't even say your name!"

"Neppy!"

"…I'm Neptune, the main character of the franchise!" she cheered as her soul says her name to the omnipotent being.

"Neptuuuuuune!" I scream in agony.

"Neeeeppyyyyy!" Plutia does as well.

"*Sigh* When will I be graced with peace and quiet ag…Ababababababababababa! Σ( ﾟ□ ﾟlll)"


	89. Chapter 89

Chapter 89:

"Um, so we called this meeting for no reason at whatsoever!"

"No reason at all!"

"Sounds interesting…*SIIIP!*" Ah, good tea, good tea.

All the girls have gathered in the well carpeted living room where I usually sleep in the futon. There is a reason why we held a meeting today. Also tea is good for the body. It oozes out a bit of stress that I've had. And as for what the stress is for, that for another time. Anyway, back to the meeting…

"Even if you hadn't called us all together, I would've come on my own" Vert said.

"Geez, can you stop with all the emergency summons? I'm really, really busy…" Noire complains. Still as dishonest as ever.

"…For someone who's here all the time, that's hard to believe…*SIIIP!*" Blanc reposted before she drinks her tea. Badass.

"Um, actually, the other day, we were contacted by _our _Histoire…" Nepgear start's explaining.

* * *

Histy (Big): "_Neptune, Nepgear, Jared. How are things over there?"_

* * *

"Another flashback? We're having way too many of these lately"

"…I believe it was backstories" Blanc corrected me.

"Really? Well, that's good I guess. But aren't we using the same flashback techniques over and over?"

"…It's not a problem if the readers understand" fine…

* * *

Neptune: "_A lot of stuff happening, but it's kinda peaceful. The Seven Sages have been quiet_"

Nepgear: "_Looking after these children doesn't demand as much time or effort as it did before_"

Plutie: "_Iffy has become a wonderful girl…! She does eeeverything I tell her to…_"

Neptune: _"Well, she had this one really bad experience, so um…"_

Jared: _"…Let's just say it's understandable" I finish Neptune's thought._

* * *

"Wait, wait. I'm here? I thought we only use this kind of flashback whenever you girls are telling about an event that I failed to witness" hence in these kinds of flashbacks, my name is not tagged.

"Don't worry, I'm sure a reader won't notice that!" Neptune answered.

* * *

Nepgear:_ "Ever since that day, I don't think I've heard her act informal around you once"_

Jared: _"She refers to Plutie as Lady Plutia…"_

Histy (Big):_"I see. Things have truly settled down over there. In that case, why not begin to increase your shares so that you can return home?"_

Neptune: _"Huh? Aw, it's not like we're totally ignoring that part! C'mon, Histy…"_

Nepgear: _"What's the situation over there?"_

Histy ()_"Not good. Jared's prediction on the citizen's group was correct"_

Jared: _"What? About them making their own CPU-less nation?"_

Histy (Big): _"Mhm, it seems it's their primary goal now"_

Jared: _"And? If that's their goal then Planeptune is on the top of their list…"_

Histy (Big): _"Yes. The other CPU's will mitigate, but the situation is getting worse"_

Jared: _"Riots everywhere now?"_

Hsity (Big): _"Riots everywhere"_

A voice of someone who is dishonest 2.0: _"It's not like I'm doing this for your sakes or anything! It's just that if Planpetune falls, it'd affect my nation!"_

Neptune: _"Oh, Noire's with you right now"_

Plutie: _"That Noire acts the same as the Noire over here…" Plutie noticed._

Jared: _"Lonely women always acts the same no matter the dimension…"_

Noire (our dimension): _"I'm not lonely! How many times do I have to tell you!?"_

Jared: _"A million more…"_

Neptune: _"I see. Even with Noire there, its bad times. Not even the great Popular Heart can help? Right?"_

Nepgear: _"Sis, are you holding some sort of grudge…?"_

Noire: _"If that's your attitude, then I'll just make your followers into my own!"_

Histy (Big): _"Y-You must not do that! They would never be able to return home if you did! That is how things stand here. Please do your best. Plutia, please give them your support"_

_Plutie: "Hmm..."_

* * *

"…And that was that" Neptune ended the flashback. I take a sip at my tea.

"Hmm. So?"

"Man, you're colder than ice! You're dry ice! I mean, you get what we're saying, didn't you…?"

"It's selfish of us, but could we please get help from you all as well?" Nepgear asked everyone.

"…Not only it is selfish, but you're asking other CPU's to gather shares for someone else" Blanc said bluntly.

"I know. How can a nation with 3 CPU's be hurting for shares so badly?" Noire asked the three. I take another sip. This is good tea. I might recommend it now.

"Th-That's because, like… Uh, we've been thinking of the children, you guys!" Neptune made an excuse.

"Nep was just playing with Peashy the whole time" kid-Iffy says the truth.

"Nope! _I _played with _her!_" that sounds disturbing Peashy.

"She ignored me almost completely…" I pet kid-Compa's head while sipping another tea. Good, good tea.

"…From the mouths of babes" Blanc commented.

"It's tear jerking moment for me..." I'm happy that they learn how to be honest.

"Neptune's laziness aside, what were the two of you doing?" Noire asked in monotone.

"I was… Well, I was looking after my Sis…" Nepgear answered an excuse.

"I was looking after Neppy…" Plutie also said.

"Huh? Both of you were keeping tabs on me and stuff? I didn't expect this alliance!"

"It's like you're a wild Neptune that came from the Planet of the Nep's gone loose…" I take another sip as I put it out there.

"And you? What have you been doing?" Noire now asked me.

"*SIIIP!*… I'm on vacation" crud, no more tea. That's the end of my sipping.

"Well, I wouldn't mind helping, but…" Vert says.

"Vert, you rock! It's true when they say the size of your heart matches the size of your rack!" Neptune puts the quote on the table. I look at my own chest… Guess my heart is small.

"…The hell does that mean?" Blanc is pissed.

"But if I help, that means the day Nepgear returns home will draw ever closer, does it not?" Vert says that one fact that everyone's been trying to tip toe on.

"Um, about that…" Nepgear has mixed feelings.

"Knowing that. I cannot support you. But I can't let Nepgear be in a tough situation…" Vert also has conflicted feelings.

"Of course, this also means Neptune and Jared would go home, right?" Noire says another obvious fact. A sad tone.

"Uh, yep. It's all about sending us back home"

"Right…"

"…" sigh… I want to open my mouth, but there's someone who has something to say first.

"Aww, come on, everyone… Don't talk like that… Let's help the Neppy's out!"

"Plutie…?" Neptune seems surprised by Plutie.

"Are you fine with this? If they leave, you would be the most lonely of all, would you not?" Vert says her concern.

"I will, sure… But… But they need our help, so…"

"Plutia…" Nepgear understands her.

"Besides, we should only get sad when the day that they leave comes so… Um…" took the word straight out of my mouth. I guess, I can be happy with this development.

"I understand. You are looking at this situation very constructively, aren't you?" Vert said.

"If Plutia says so, then there's no getting around it. I'm just saying" Noire is as dishonest as ever. The translation is…

"'I'm not helping you or anything. It's all for Plutia's sake'"

"…So basically, 'I'm not helping you or anything. It's all for Plutia's sake'?"

"Ah…"

"Hm… Jinx?" it seems we said the thought at the same time.

"…I'll send you a book to read" she's supposed not to say anything, right? Oh well, at least I have something to read.

"Don't act like you two know my lines! In any event, that's how things are, so…"

"Thank you so much, everyone!" Nepgear thanked everyone.

"I'll do my best to help…"

"Yeah, thanks Plutie!" Neptune thanked once more.

"Well, with that. This meeting is adjourned"

* * *

"*_Sigh_*_... I'm getting a headache…_" _Big Histy says from them holographic screen._

_"That'd be bad. We can stop if you want" it's dead in the night and everyone's already asleep._

_"No, I can still give it a bit more effort for a talk…"_

_"Don't push yourself. So what is it?" I get straight to the point._

_"The riots are just still few but they're growing in an alarming rate"_

_"Sent any riot enforcers?"_

_"Yes. As of now, there haven't been any casualties on both sides…"_

_"I see… We both know that the riots are going to continue, no matter. So tell it to me straight. How much longer?"_

_"3 weeks at best"_

_"A substantial amount of time to make their own army…" I mumble to myself. By that time, there's going to be a rebellion soon. Let's hope it doesn't end bloody._

_"As sad as my next words are, we have almost no choice but to convert those rioters, who are originally Planeptune's citizen's, into Lastation's or Lowee's or Leanbox's. But…"_

_"It seems the events here in Planeptune is slowly beginning to rise in other countries. Although the other 3 are trying to keep everything down. That plan won't hold…"_

"_Well, I can at least make a countermeasure to slow them down. But there's almost nothing we can do and hope the fire dies itself out_" _rioters are the movements of an idea after all. And ideas are like a plague. That when we are affected by it, we won't stop until we get it._

_"That'd be a big help…"_

_"Found Rei Ryghts yet?"_

_"No. But with everything that is going on, even I can't keep up"_

_"Hrm…" so we have zero info on that Rei Ryght's person. Damn._

_"Can you have Iffy handle the shipping that comes in and out of Planeptune?"_

_"Why?"_

_"An organized group needs to eat"_

_"Ah, I see. I'll have her start in 3 hours"_

_"Good. I'll tell the rest of the plan if you ever called"_

_"*Sigh*… Talking to you is always a relief"_

_"Now I'm a stress reliever? I'm a multi-purpose passerby now"_

_"Apparently you are. So how have you been doing?"_

_"Nothing much, still on vacation. Although…" I remember about that time._

_"There was this unusual familiar being…"_

_"A familiar being?"_

_"I'll call it that since I don't know what it was. It's shaped as a shadow of a person, it's deformed of anything other than a shape of a person" I describe the creature that attacked me._

_"And why is it familiar?"_

_"It's related to me being _special_"_

_"I see… Do you think it is related to_ _your…headaches…?" she tiptoed on the last word._

_"Maybe"_

_"I'll investigate on this" she declared._

_"Thanks Histy" this fairy is like someone I never had before._

_"Oh and one other thing before we end the call" I think this would be a good time to ask._

_"Hm? What is it?"_

_"Do you like me?"_

_"Ah… W-Wh-Wh-What are you saying!? I-I-I'm the o-oracle of Planeptune, I can't possibly love you or anything like that!" her cheeks are red._

_"What are you, a walking gigolo_? (￣□￣;)_" Mini-Histy asked._

_"Probably…"_

_"Anyway, if that is all. Good night then, Jared"_

_"Good night to you too, Histy"_


	90. Chapter 90

Chapter 90:

"Let's all gather some shares! Hooo!"

"Yaaaaaay!" the two bubbling excited girls raise their fists in the air.

All of us, except for our fairy friend and the kids, have all gathered in the forest. And so to increase our shares we've accepted a quest. The quest conditions are quite easy. It seems there's a mysterious monster roaming within the forest, there has also been some trees being cut down and also some natural creatures.

"It's just a simple quest. So why did you bring us all along? I'm really, really busy, you know"

"…For someone who's already here, you have a lot of free time then…" Blanc reputed Noire.

"I would agree with Noire here, why bring all of us if our target is just a simple monster?" Vert asked.

"It seems that the quest we got was a triple S one" I answered.

"…And who decided to pick… No, I already know the answer" Blanc stops herself.

"Mhm. Sis picked it and said it would be just a breeze…" Nepgear supports that Blanc's conclusion.

"Mhm! Jared's here! So it'll be like fighting the final boss with level 999!" Neptune lumped me as

"Jarey will do all the wooork!" Plutie seems excited not to do anything but watch.

"Please woman, you're setting up another death flag" I can't be killed that easily though.

"Well, whatever the case. Let's all go so we can go home early…"

Marching on, led by my overly zealous fiancée. We enter the forest trying to pull out from within us the same excitement that she has. For the most part, I am pretty excited to get a workout done. I still run early in the mornings but nothing beats a good fight or two.

The forest has the branches of its trees sway as we march through. As though dancing with the rhythm of our footsteps. The sun's rays peeks through the leaves and branches. The smell of the air feels fresh that even a guy with asthma would feel relief.

Walking on, Neptune seems to be leading us to where her feet takes her. Well, for starters this forest is big, and letting someone like Neptune, no offense though, to walk us through this place would sometimes be a good idea, well, not really.

"I wonder what kind of monster we are going to face…" Vert wondered.

"Most probably the hideous kind…" I answered.

"Eeh? That's no fun at all, can't we have a cute monster?" Plutie asked.

"…If it was cute, then we wouldn't be able to fight them…" Blanc answered.

"Then, then… How about a monster that does cute things?"

"…If it does happen, then it wouldn't be called a monster"

"Eeeh? Really?"

"…Mhm"

"If it's cute a monster we're talking about, then wouldn't it be nice if it was modeled after me!" Neptune said.

"I'll have fun killing that monster…" Noire whispered.

"Nepu! I think I my hair stands up!"

"Hmph. It's probably your imagination"

"Big Brother, what do you think?" Nepgear asked.

"It's the hideous kind, like I said. You know, the ones with horns and whatnot…"

"I'm appalled by the lack of imagination you have…" Vert said.

"That hurts. Tell me what you think?"

"Hmhmm… It'll be one that looks like Nepgear…"

"Haa?"

"If a monster comes out and looks like Nepgear, I'll bring it home with me"

"And what? Feed it with your blood? What if it was a vampire?"

"If it was, it would be glittering in the sunlight"

"…What do you think that monster would be?" Blanc asked Nepgear.

"Eh? Me? Well… I hope it's the kind one…"

"Geez, why are we talking about cute monsters?" Noire asked.

"Because walking without talking is boring…" I answer her.

"What do you think would the monster look like?" I ask her a follow-up.

"Hmm… I hope it's not a cat…."

"I see… So you think it's a cat… how typical" I kinda like to see Noire with a cat.

"Don't act as if you know how I really feel!"

Still walking in the forest, I feel a slight breeze up ahead. Having noticed it, I also noticed that the tree trunks have scratches. Feeling one of the scratch, I determined that it's still fresh. The monster that did this, must be ahead. I walk a bit faster, leveling with Neptune.

The breeze from up front, gets stronger and stronger. I sharpen my eyes and ears, not missing a single beat. My instincts tell me there is 'something' ahead, and caution is absolutely needed. We head closer, I walk a bit ahead. In between 2 trees in front of us, was where the breeze comes from, as though it was a gate.

"Uwaaa…"

"H-How horrible…" Nepgear gasps.

"…" Upon entering a very open area we see bodies of monsters and animals everywhere. As though it was a death parade. I crouch down on one of them and analyze the cause.

It's wounds are big and .And it seems this particular monster is a male with a developed body. I also find that it has blood on it mouth. It must have put up a good fight before dying...!

*SQZ!*

"…!" huh…?

"Who would have done this…?" Vert asked the most obvious question.

"It's most probably the monster that we have been looking for" Noire answered.

"…But this number of monster kills…"

"…It's human…" I stand up from the corpse.

"...It's so horrible!" Plutie said.

"Well, we always do this kinda stuff to them so…" Neptune said.

"Hush now, it's disrespectful to the dead…" Vert tells Neptune.

"Um… everyone, look… Why is there pudding there…?"

Following Nepgear where she is pointing, on a cut tree trunk lies a plastic cup of pudding. Undisturbed by the sight around it. As though it was an offering.

"Pudding!" Neptune tries to run. I grab her.

"Nope, you can't eat that…"

"Why!? It's pudding! Pudding!"

"I know, I like pudding too. Probably. But it seems that it's somehow an offering..."

"Eh, who would offer pudding?"

"A fellow pudding lover I presume…!"

*SQZ!*

"...!" my instincts instantly pull me towards somewhere. On the other side of the forest, I sharpen my eyes some more and zoom in on where it wants me to look. I search in between the trees… I see a per…!

*SQZ!* *SQZ!* *SQZ!* *SQZ!*

"…!" the pain hits me, once more.

"Jared!" I hear a certain someone, as the ringing in my ears doesn't stop.

*SQZ!* *SQZ!* *SQZ!* *SQZ!*

"Guaah!" Again!? Am I going to leave her again!? Huh!?

*SQZ!* *SQZ!* *SQZ!* *SQZ!*

"Jared!" I fall down on all floors. Resisting the pain in my head.

*SQZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZ!*

"GH!" Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you!

*SQZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZ!*

"GAaah!...! Blrugh!" water that is cold and taste like iron emerges to my throat. I try to close my mouth to keep it from vomiting.

"Guaaaaaah!" thick, thick blood falls out from my mouth to the ground, staining them.

"Jared…! No! Please!" Neptune cries out as she quickly tries to lift me up.

*SQZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZ!*

"…!" I scream.

Translation: I'm not leaving here! You fuck! I'm not leaving her!

"…!?" I 'stare' at the figure from the other side. As though trying to damn it.

"…!?"

Translation: You got that!?

*SQZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZ!*

"GH…!" As though it got angry on me, the pain in my head increases. Frames of static appears on my vision.

"…You…!" I 'stare' at the figure. The figure emits the same wavelength as 'him'. The figure feels as like 'him'. Just like that shadow. The statics in my vision appears more and more frequent by the frame. Bloodlust quickly boils from within me.

"…!?"

Translation: WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!?

*SQZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZ!*

*SQZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZ!*

*SQZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZ!*

"_Brother… Hehe…_"

*SQZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZ!*

*SQZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZ!*

*SQZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZ!*

And I was cut off from the world, once more.


	91. Chapter 91

Chapter 91:

"Ugh…!" the clear blue sky enters my retina.

I hear the sound of water rustling in my right ear. My head still hurts a bit. The ringing in my ears have died down. And no more blood vomiting. Although I can still taste my own blood. A small wind blew reminding me that I haven't left this place.

My wonder for only a moment, purple eyes meets mine, worried for my very well being. I'm one lucky guy…

"Jared…" she calls out for my name.

"Yeah?"

"…Y-*hic!*- You're not going to…"

"I'm not, okay? I'm not going anywhere"

"M…*sob!*…Mhm!" I reach to her and wipe her tears.

"C'mon. Show me a big grin it's not a good thing to show a downed man a crying girl, especially if it's his woman"

"*hic!*…" she grabs my hand uses it to wipe the rest of her tears away.

"Mhm!" she shows me her signature picturesque smile. It eases a bit of pain.

"…Hmm…"

"Hmmm…"

"Hmmm…"

"Hmmm?"

"Nepu! When did you guys get here?"

Looking, I see the other girls staring at us like we're some cinematic scene or something. Well, for the most part we are doing something straight out of a romance movie.

"Please don't mind us, continue on your merry ways" Vert said.

"…Mhm, we're enjoying the drama…"

"I didn't know Sis can be so dramatic…"

"Neppy's like a famous actress!"

"Sorry folks pay-per-view only…" I sit up and declared. C'mon people, it's our moment and you're staring. Talk about being looked at.

"Eeh? How much are we going to pay?" Plutie asked.

"Hrm…" I think… oh, I know.

"The 'world'…" now that'll be a tempting offer for me.

"Eh? I can't give you the world? It's too big!" she said.

"Really? It's not _that _big"

"Haha… Only kidding…" you can't literally give anyone the whole world. Nor can you dominate the whole world.

"Well, seeing as you are already fine. Tell us what happened…" Vert cuts straight to the chase.

"…You started shouting and holding your head…" Blanc recalls.

"And vomited blood…" and Noire finishes.

"The blood was sooo red!" Plutie commented.

"Sis got worried and told us to carry you. Honestly, I've never seen Sis be that forceful…"

"Ehehehe… Sorry for scaring you Nep Jr." Neptune apologizes.

"Well, it's as you girls said. I had a headache, vomited blood and collapsed. Not too uncommon…"

"But to have an extreme headache that strong at that time and place…" Vert started speculating.

"Well, I'm sure it's just a coincidence…" no, fuck it's not.

I know this is not the work of the 'world'. But I'm not entirely sure either. This maybe a warning from 'it' telling me that I don't belong here. Or maybe that devilish ass is not doing his freakin' job. He has a lot of 'favors' that he owes me after all. Or maybe it was that 'something or someone' on the other side. Whatever the case, this calls for extreme caution. So that's why we…

"...have to go back" I said as I stand up.

"Are you going to be fine, Big Brother? Maybe you should rest a bit more…" Nepgear says her concern.

"Nah, I feel not-so-much-alive, but I can get by walking home" I said as I pull Neptune up from the ground.

"Okey-dokey! Let's go home, I'm sleepy already!" Plutie declares.

"…I can carry you and you can sleep as long as you want…" Blanc offers…

"Really? Blanny can you carry me?"

"…Sure…" Blanc crouches down offering her back.

"Yay! I can get to sleep!" Plutia runs over to her. She leans on Blanc's back, allowing her to be caught and lifted up.

"Mmmm…" Noire is trying to think of something to tell to Plutie but ultimately she just stares at Blanc as though she wants to eat her. I move in next to her and whispered.

"…You know, you could tell her about you're height advantage in the 'piggy back ride department for Plutia'"

"N-No way I can't top sleeping…" she whispered back? Guess we really are good friends. Brings a tear to my eye.

"How about pudding?"

"That only works to Neptune…"

"Then cry and give up" that's the last resort.

"I ca… Hey! That was unnecessary!" she shouted. I retreated to Neptune's side.

"In forest voices please…" you might wake up some forest spirit or something, in which I believe in as a matter of fact.

"It's the last time that I'm ever going to listen to you…"she hmph's.

"My, my. When did you two became friends?" Vert asked.

"He's not my friend!" Norie denies. It pains my heart…

"Eeh? So Noire's after my Jared now. This fic is turning into a soap opera now…" Neptune complains.

"I would if I could!"

"I see… so you also said it…" Vert nods to herself.

"Isn't that good Noire, you said something that is very unusual of you…" Nepgear said.

"Is that insult or praise!" please woman, the spirits are going to be mad at us. They can't be compelled by Christ.

"Yay! Noire's not a tsundere anymore!" Plutie shouts.

"Tsundere? Isn't that a… oooh…" I like how pop culture is able to classify people so precisely.

"That's Noire for ya. Always a tsundere by heart!"

"Don't call me that!" she screamed once more. We are going to get lost in this forest. I just know it.

"Let's put aside Noire first and head on home" I reminded our initial objective.

"What about our quest Big Brother?" Nepgear asked.

"Tell the client that submitted that we took care of the monster. Take some random head from a monster along the away, smack it on a tree and until it's is utterly unrecognizable"

"…You're cheating on the quest?" Blanc asked.

"Of course not. This is proving the power of suggestion. That humans will believe in anything as long as there is almost convincing visual proof. For example, a random head"

"So basically you want to take the reward without doing the actual conditions…"

"Guilty as charged, Vert…" I raise my hands.

"Can I do the actual smacking?" Plutie asked while she is being carried by Blanc.

"Um… sure…?" I do hope she does have self-control here… hm?

"Jared?" Neptune looks up to me.

"I tasted blood on my mouth, not to worry" probably left overs.

"I'll go wash by the river and then we'll go home…"

"Okay!" Neptune gave me a cheery smile.

I look around for a bit and found the river that my ears have been detecting. I walk over to it, while I pull out my handkerchief from my pocket. I place it on my shoulder as I crouch down and scoop up water with both hands. Splashing it on my face, the deep cool water penetrates me washing with relief.

"I don't know what's going on anymore…" I look at myself in the reflection of the water.

"…I wonder if I can get the same results if I do it here…" I know the result but at least I'll try.

"…" I 'stare' at myself. My 'eyes' penetrates the passerby's eyes through the reflection. Nothing happens.

"I see…" so it won't trigger. Good to know…

Standing up, I wipe my face with my handkerchief. I rejoined the group, feeling the my face feels better than ever. Well, not really.

"You done, Jared?" Neptune asked me. Still having a her cute smile on her face.

"Yeah. C'mon let's go home…"

"Mhm!"

Neptune grabs my hand as we both lead the way back home. She holds on it tight as though telling the 'world' that she won't let me go anywhere.


	92. Chapter 92

Chapter 92:

Children refers to their parent's as their gods. And when they get a mind of their own, they'll refer to their friends as their gods. That is why it's very hard to raise kids. Kids can be influenced by many things at a very young age. Ideas of the world pours through them as though filling up an empty cup.

When kids enter their 'tantrum' phase, it's really just a phase where they question the world. And when they enter a phase of hardheadedness, it means that there is something that they believe in, for good or for bad.

"Phew! We're done for the day. Hey, Histy, we're back!" Neptune announces as we all exit the elevator.

"Oh, everyone! I have been waiting for you! ((=￣□￣=;),)" the moment we got on our slippers mini-Hsity flies to us at breathtaking speed.

"What's wrong, Histoire?" Nepgear asked.

"It is terrible! Something very terrible has happened, and… Well, it is terrible! ((=￣□￣=;),)" and I thought my job is done for today. I want to rest…

"Wow, that was sooo many terribles…" Plutie is awed by the amount of terribles.

"...It seems a lot of terrible things happen in this Basilicom" Blanc said.

"What is it this time? Did the Seven Sages start more trouble for us?" Noire cuts through the point.

"It is nothing that awful, but you might say our course of action has caused an error…" and mini-Histy is still tip toeing.

"Haa?" I do not understand.

"Please get to the point" Vert said.

"Um, allow _me _to explain"

Hearing a voice more that is leaning on the tenor side of tones, we all look at our guest. He's a guy, baby faced as though he was groomed from a wealthy family and never met the light of day. He wears a suit, gray and black. He has blonde hair and green eyes. The voice reminds me of someone, that even I feel that it's off. I overclock my brain…

"Hello. It's nice to meet you…"

"Whoa, he's soooo cute…!" Plutie said. Well, he is baby faced so I'm not to argue.

"He's a total hot pocket! Too bad he isn't on par with my Jared, though" that tickled my jealousy a bit, Neptune. Well I always do that kind of sentence structure to other girls so I guess it's fair.

"Oh, is that so? I'm flattered" he's embarrassed by it.

"Shut up, you two! Cute? Hot pocket! This is a man we're talking about here!"

"…Yeah, he's a man. I don't see the issue, seeing as we always see a passerby everyday" yay, special mention by Blanc.

"Everyone, please. Let's hear what this adorable man has to say" even Nepgear has an interest in him?

"Um, pardon me, but today… I have a shameful request…" shameful?

"How long are gonna talk, Papa!? Let's play!" Peashy run to us and tugs the man's pants for attention.

"Ah, yes. Just a moment, dear. I'm trying to explain things right now" he tells her.

"Boo! That's boring!" she answers back.

"C'mon, P-ko. Don't butt in on adults talking. That's rude" Neptune tells her. Wait…

"Right. Even though he's your papa, you shoul-… wait" Nepgear had caught on.

"Papa? So… You're her…?" Peashy finally wondered to the same page.

"Yep! He's my papa!"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"*Sigh*… Let's not stand by the door, first. Let's hear this wonderful man his story in the dining room. I'll go prepare some drinks…" I remind them.

* * *

"I-I'm sorry. That's the truth" he said with his face facing on the ground. Hmm…

The girls and guest sit on the dining room. I stand by the second elevator located her and lean on it. After hearing his purpose, everyone, including me, all have mixed feelings by how sudden this is. The world will always move faster than us.

"In other word, you've come to take Peashy away. Am I right?" Noire asks of confirmation in the harshest words.

"Yep! He's come to take me home!" Peashy said.

"No sir, I don't like it! Not even a sliver!" Neptune objected.

"Not a sliver…!" Plutie also objects.

"I-I'm really sorry. Really!" the man apologizes some more.

"Is Peashy gonna go away…?" I hear another kid innocently asked.

"I don't want that… *sniff*"

Looking, kid-Iffy and Compa are by the entry way to the living room. I walk towards them, sit on the well carpeted floor and usher them to stay close to me. I pet their heads making the tears on Compa's face sink back down. I could just usher them in to their rooms but this also involves them and their future.

"I would like for you to go into a little more detail, please" Vert asked. Or rather demanded.

"Agreed. Why abandon your kid in the first place?"

"As cliché as it sounds, it was for financial reasons. Both her mother and I had lost our jobs…" cliché. But it is the most common.

"Around then, I heard this place began a daycare, so we entrusted her to you and left the country"

"Come to think of it, Peashy just appeared on our front steps one day" mini-Histy confirms.

"That's horrible… And you dare to call that action 'entrusting' her to us!" Nepgear is angry.

"I really do apologize! I just thought she could be happy here, since the CPUs reside here…" and she is.

"Afterwards, I found work and our lives became stable again. Then we remembered our child…" I look at his hands. Hmm…

"So you _forgot _about her for a while!? That's the worst thing I've ever heard!" Neptune is angry too.

"Yes, I know! I know that, but…"

"I don't think you get it. If I were you, I'd be so ashamed that I could never show my face here" Noire said harshly.

"Boo! Stop being mean to my daddy!"

*THONK!*

"Hey, ow! Don't do that!" Peashy hits Noire.

"I have my own thoughts on the matter, but Peashy wants this, as well…" mini-Histy stays neutral. A safe choice.

"Is there any proof to give that you are truly her father?" Vert asked.

"He might even be working for the Seven Sages" Blanc speculated.

"He's my real papa! Really!" Peashy provides proof by testifying. Does not hold any water though…

"Oh, honey… Thank you. Calling someone such as me "Papa"…" oh, the drama…

"He has no proof to offer besides his identification card. It is true that he lived in Planeptune" mini-Histy said.

"Where's the ID?" I ask.

"It is by the counter"

Standing up, I head to the counter. I see a purple card lying on top. I take the card and read the name:

_Hector Murkey_

A strange name for a pretty boy. Not a good match. It says he is an employee in Lowee. Some sort of technical advisor. Hmm… Interesting… And this card…

"Peashy, is he really your daddy?" returning my attention on the conversation, Plutie asked.

"He is! You're so dumb you have to keep asking, Ploot!" by now, I would have ran over to her and tell her what she just said. But I can't right now, so instead I walk to the dining room once more.

"Awwwwww…! Don't yell at me…!"

"So… You'll take Peashy away, just like that?" Nepgear asked. Completely seeing the end result.

"Yes. We are a busy family, so we don't know when we can come again. But only if _she _is okay with it" a busy family, eh?

"I wanna go with you! I wanna go home with Daddy!"

"Then, what about…?" Nepgear looks at me. And everyone does as well, I can see Neptune about to burst.

"…We can't do much. We are a day care center… nothing more. If a parent comes and retrieves their child we don't have to do anything. Especially if the child says so…" I know that my explanation is wrong. But it'll suffice.

"But…!"

"Oh man, this is grinding my gears. Are you saying you'd rather chill with this dude than us!?" Nepgear tries to object, but Neptune cuts in as she stands from her chair.

"He's not old! He's my papa!"

"Stop it, Neptune" Noire says.

"Old dude is all he gets to be! He's just an unreliable, pathetic man who abandoned his kid!" okay, I better ready from behind her.

"Stop saying bad things about Papa! If you do, I'm not gonna like you anymore, Neptuna!"

"Fine, then I don't like you anymore, P-ko! So there!" she lays that statement down.

"Cease this idiocy. You are not being very mature about this" Vert said.

"Idiot! Neptuna's an idiot!" okay… now that I can't take.

"Peashy, what have I told you about calling people idiots?" I ask her with a slight tone. She flinches a bit.

"Vert has a point, Sis. You shouldn't fight as your final farewell" Nepgear now sides Vert.

"Why're you getting on_ my _case!? P-ko's being the jerk!"

"Neptune stop it" I try to stop her, but she reluctantly jerks her hands.

"Nuh-uh, you're a jerk!" Peashy points at Neptune. Refilling the fire that I had almost extinguished.

"Peashy, stop fighting!" Iffy runs to her and tries to back her off.

"Waaaaaah… I don't like this…" Compa started crying. Blanc goes to her and pets her head.

"This is getting out of hand"

"S-Stop this ruckus, at once!" mini-Histy said.

"I'm sorry. It's my fault. Because of me, things ended up this way for you all…" the man still apologizes.

"Um, well… Take this with you, Peashy. It's a stuffed animal I made" Plutie, from out of nowhere, pulls out a stuff animal and handed it to her.

"I don't wanna! I don't want it!" she takes it and started pulling it from the head and feet to opposite directions.

"N-N-, you mustn't pull at it like that…!" Nepgear tells her, but she didn't listen.

*RRRRRRRRRRRIP!*

A loud ripping noise of cloth echoed loudly in our home. As though making a statement.

"No! The head came off…!" Plutie panics.

"What a jerk! Ugh, fine, that settles it. I'm never gonna play with you again! We're done!" she walks over to her, stomping on the ground. As though about to…!

"Neptune, stop it! Now!" I stop her from coming closer to her. If she does, it'll be real ugly…!

"I'm done with you, too! I hate you, Neptune!" Peashy declares.

"Ooooooh, stop it, you two…!" Plutie shouts.


	93. Chapter 93

Chapter 93:

"…I'm really sorry for what happened earlier…"

"It's fine…"

"Are we still… welcome here?"

"I am not the master of the house…"

The elevator falls smoothly gliding from the metal railings. Peashy has her head down while holding her Papa's hand. And as he talks earlier, I don't look at him instead stare at the elevator door as though forcing it to open. And looking at the display above, I think it will.

*TING!*

"…This is our stop now…C'mon, my daughter let's go…"

"Mhm…" both of them takes a step.

"You know…" he stops.

"…that kid can be a real handful when she plays"

"…I… see…"

"…She's easy to raise when you tell her the good and bad, she keeps them in her heart…"

"…"

"She's a pure, honest kid, I tell you. And we need those kinds of people in this day and age..."

"I heard…"

"Hm?" this time, I look at him. Straight in the eyes.

"…that you have been raising her up until now…"

"…Well I did, majorly speaking. Now she's in your hands…"

"…I guess… I wish to redeem myself…"

"...It's fine. Raise her from this point on without constraining yourself to proving to someone. Prove to none other than yourself"

"T-Thank…"

"Don't thank me…"

"…Well, we will be leaving. Peashy, say goodbye…"

"Mhm…" Peashy doesn't.

"…" I stop myself from talking. She isn't under my custody now.

"…Well…" the father seems embarrassed…

"…That is it for today…" I reach out to the elevator buttons.

"Oh… I nearly forgot…" I press the door and the elevator doors close and toss an card at the same time, there's a small 'love letter' attached.

"…Hm? Oh…!" he catches clumsily.

"…I have no tolerance on shitty parents…" …and gave him a 'stare' before he is out of my sight.

"*Sigh*…One down… one more left…"

* * *

Headaches after headaches after headaches. Good thing I have pills for that.

*TING!*

The elevator doors opened once more. I step out and take off my shoes, put them in the rack and change to my slippers. I step in, feeling a bit of a heavy air seeping out from the living room. It makes me cringe. Guess happy places will sometimes go bad.

I made it to the living room where everyone is seated on the floor in a circle. 2 girls are on the corner, one of them is crouching, clearly shaken.

"Ugh, I'm too tired for this. I can't even move right now" Noire said as she lays on the ground.

"…I didn't expect Plutia to transform right then. We were too careless" Blanc says.

"But, but… None of you were listening to me at all…" Plutie says in defense.

"You really ought to learn some self-control" Vert advises. Well for the most part we have an excuse to drive the man out.

"Ahhhhh! No, no, nooooo!" the shaken Iffy faces the corner, and shakes violently from her trauma.

"Everything is all right now. The scary Plutia is gone, see?" mini-Histy pats her shulder.

"Please come to your senses, Iffy" kid-Compa tries to help.

Walking over to the crying Iffy, I pat her on the shoulder once and she instantaneously flies to me. She wraps her small arms around my torso and begins her small sobs. I rub her back as she does so. Child traumas are very hard to fix.

"*sob!* *hic!*" I know that Plutie did it in the best of intentions. She does know that all attention goes to her when she transforms. She probably thought, 'If I could just transform for just a second then they'll stop'. She forgot the kid-Iffy is still traumatized to her.

"Ssshh… There, there…" I rub her back some more. Gently trying to calm her down as the room was echoed her sobs.

"Peashy really left, huh?" Nepgear breaks the ice by dropping down that reality.

"I don't care. That little brat can go wherever she wants" sigh… such a handful, I tell you.

"Are you going to continue acting sore?" Vert asked.

"If you're going to be so stubborn, maybe we'll have Plutia transform and discipline you for a bit…" Noire suggests. But Iffy's skin hair stands up to their ends, and she hugs me even more tightly.

"Aahhhhhhhhh!"

"Ssshh… There, there…" she's literally soaking my clothes.

"Stop, all of you! Please don't make poor IF's trauma any worse" Nepgear tells everyone.

"This is really sad. Neppy was the closest to Peashy…" true that Plutie, true that.

"I'm not sad about it. We just stopped being friends!"

"Sigh…"

"…Good grief" Blanc let it out of her system as well.

* * *

"Huu… Zzzz… Zzz… Huu… haa… huu…"

Night time. After I have successfully delivered Iffy to her bed, I watch her for only just a second, as she enters the world of dreams. Kid-Compa climbs on the bed as well, and I tuck her in under the covers. Telling each other good night, I get up and leave the room.

We had a silent dinner today, making even my dinner rather tasteless. Everyone has already fallen asleep while the 3 goddesses left to their respective countries. I wanted to ask about calling to Big Histy on the other side. But with the events that had transpired, I'll save it for another time.

I head over to the well carpeted living room, and sit on the floor. I watch the stars through the glass sliding door towards the balcony. They twinkle and shine and sparkle. As though singing a hymn that only the celestial bodies know. I would enjoy such a serene sight if not for a certain someone that has her head between her legs on the balcony, on the side of the glass sliding door.

Standing up, I head towards the fridge and take out 2 puddings. I head over to the sliding door and slid it open.

"…You're going to get a cold if you stay out here…"

"Mhm…" she didn't look at me when she answered.

Closing the sliding door behind me, I sit on the floor of the balcony, sitting me right beside her. I hand out the pudding to her. She stares at it once and looked away. Oh well, at least I tried.

"…Why…?"

"Hm…?"

"Why did you let Peashy…?"

"Because we're a daycare center. Not home for the abandoned children…" that was our job.

"But that guy was too sketchy…"

"I know…" a faker will always know another faker.

"Then…"

"At the state that kid is in now… it'll only bite us back in the end"

"…"

"Even if I tell her, she's going to grow up with hate in her heart. So rather than let that happen, let her go and let her see for herself if what she chose is right…"

"…But our fight…*hic!*"

"...Well, I'm sure you feel terrible right now…" I put an arm around her, and pull her in to my chest.

"You can cry… I'll be right here…"

"*hic!* *hic!* …Peashy… Peashy…! Hu... *hic!*"

"*sob!*…I… I… could have…*hic*… said goodbye with… a *sob!* smile! *hic!*"

"…Why!? *hic!*… Why can't… *sob!*… the things… *sniff!*"

"…*hic* Uu… *sob!*"

"Uuuu…*hic!* *sob!*….uuu!"

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

The echoes of her wailing reaches the stars above.

* * *

"…*sniff!* *sniff!*"

"Feeling any better now?" I ask her.

"Mhm…" now that's an answer I want to hear.

"…Want some pudding now?"

"Hmhmm…" she shakes her head.

"…What would happen to Peashy now…?"

"I guess she's back to her father's house…" I say the most obvious answer.

"…I don't like it when things I care about go away…" her heart speaks.

"No one does…" I reach her hand and play with her ring.

"…It makes me feel sad…"

"I know…"

"…I don't want to feel sad…"

"That's impossible…" one should accept the good with the bad. That's how 'balance' work.

"…But…"

"That doesn't mean you aren't allowed to smile even when there are sad moments…"

"Mhm. Jared…" she looks at me. Her purple eyes are hypnotizing.

"…Let's make a deal…"

"…" a deal eh? Each time I hear that, I see a different color to it.

"…Sure..." but I'll still accept since this is a request with the highest reward.

"…Don't leave me…"

"…And you don't leave me as well…"

Those two lines were almost a statement to some unknown being. As though we are etching our promise to the stars. And each time, those stars twinkle for us, they'll resonate this promise from us. As though telling the world, that it should not interfere.


	94. Chapter 94

Chapter 94:

"Huuuuuuuuu… So bored…"

"Haaaaaaaaaaaa… Boring…" the two Planeptune CPUs are synchronized in their laziness once more.

"I thought we were helping you to increase your shares" Noire thought.

"…Right. I think it's reasonable for us to get really pissed off at seeing this" Blanc said.

"Please don't. A passerby's heart is faint…" I said as I continue to read a book that Blanc had just allowed me to borrow.

It's been a week of pure boredom. Although I like boredom since it gets me to think, it does affect my performance a bit. I've tried to call to Big Histy about my recent static headaches, which I have now officially named, but it seems they are out of network coverage area according to mini-Histy.

"I-I'm sorry about them… Sis! Plutia! Get your acts together, right now!" Nepgear tries to lift her Sister up from the floor.

"Say it all you want, but… There's nothing worth doing these days…" Neptune said.

"It's so quiet in here… It used to be much more loud and exciting…" Plutie adds.

"It is a bad example to set for the children if you just lie around like this" mini-Histy said.

"Did you hear that, Compa? They're examples of bad adults" kid-Iffy said.

"I see. Nep-Nep and Plu-Plu are bad adults" kid-Compa agreed.

"They understand what not to do, thanks to these perfect anti-role models" Vert comments.

"At least they're filtering what they see in the world. I'll make your favorites tonight, you two…" I said that last one to the kids.

"Yay!" the two cheered. I'm practically proud to these two. Maybe this is what it means to be a father of a kind…

A father, eh…

"However, I will console you if _you _are depressed, Nepgear" Vert adds returning me to reality.

"Um, I'm okay, thanks. Please focus on my Sis and Plutia" Nepgear is such a selfless girl.

"…I'll help Plutia out. The leftovers are all yours…" Blanc says a bold statement.

"…H-How dare you! If anyone should be fed the scraps, it should be _you_!" Noire retorted.

"…So those two are still fighting over Plutie?" I ask Vert.

"Apparently, so"

"This love triangle relationship is getting pretty deep…" it might be worth the drama afterall.

*TING!*

"Oh, we have a guest. Come in" mini-Histy shouted to the guest. Wait, she hasn't been using her emoticons lately.

"Um, excuse me…" out appears a little girl with a ribbon on her head with skull clip, and a pink dress that resembles a Lolita.

"I think you're name was… Absent?"

"Abnes…" she's not mad? She's not going to accuse me of being a child molester? Yay?

"Huh? Abnes?" Nepgear's surprised.

"Ugh, it's the annoying one" Noire is not believing her eyes.

"The little girl just came in like a normal little girl?" Neptune is also shocked by a sudden change of something.

"No more *Ga-Thunk* sound effect?" Plutie wondered.

"I don't do that _every _time. And... don't call me little girl" she just have to add that last, huh?

"But… Today, um…" she tiptoes her purpose here.

"…What is it? I don't think we have the kind of relationship where you can just drop by" Blanc says coldly.

"I'm not just dropping by! I thought this over and have nowhere else to turn, so…" she tries to find her next words. But instead, she prostrates herself and shouted…

"Please help me! Help me rescue the abducted children…!"

"Huh? The kids that were napped?" Neptune asks for confirmation.

"Apparently, Neptune" I answer her.

I heard of these cases. I think mini-Histy was reading one a few months ago. It's a very meticulous case since the kidnappers, who are the Seven Sages, I don't know how everyone got to that conclusion but there you go, are kidnapping street children. And most since street children doesn't have birth certificates, no offense, we really have no info as to how many are kidnapped. We do have an estimate but it's sketchy. I wanted to go through the case, but I'm not going to damn them. I'd probably have no right to.

"This is nonsense. I believe the ones who were abducting children were you Seven Sages, correct?" Vert accuses.

"I left them. I had no knowledge of their actions! If I had, I would've tried to prevent it!" so they _are _kidnapping children. Isn't that pretty counter-productive? I guess in this case, they are planning something big. Cliché.

"…You expect us to believe you?" Blanc has some grudge.

"Ugh. I know how this looks, and I _really _didn't want to come begging you, but…"

"But while I'm being indecisive, who knows what's been happening to the children!? Please, help me!"

"Blanny, I don't think she's lying to us…" Plutia can tell.

"I'll side on Plutie on this one" that'll be two against one.

"I agree. This is an earnest request" Nepgear added her support. Three against one.

"…You three are too trusting" no, I can see the difference between fakers and truth tellers. Not that hard of a skill to develop.

"So what is it you want us to do?" Noire asked.

"I figured out where the Seven Sages are holding the captive children" that makes one job easier.

"But I'm just a normal girl. I can't save them…" how sad…

"Still looking like a little girl after all these years is far from normal, but okay" Neptune comments.

"Shut up! Don't bring up topics that people are sensitive about!"

"Youth" I feel like an old man saying that.

"I believe our course of action has been decided" Vert said.

"Yeah. Being lazy all the time isn't like at all!" Neptune said.

"No, that is exactly like you" everyone synchronized. Even me.

"Nepu! What's with the sudden alliance!?"

"Oh yeah. Iffy, Compa, if this is a trap, be sure to keep an eye on this little girl, okay?" Neptune tell the kids.

"Also, kids. Call, alright" I added my own.

"I'm on the job"

"I'll do my best" the two says cheerily.

"Still… I mean it, save those children" a serious tone.

Getting up, I head towards my bag and pop it open. Rummaging around through my clothes, I notice 2 innocent eyes looking at me. I still rummage around some more, until I find object I need. Also my tactical tomahawk just vanished. Where is that thing? Oh well…

"Close your eyes"

"Mhm…" the kids follow suit.

I take out my gun, the 93R Beretta fits on my hand. I take out a shoulder holster and a jacket. Putting on the holster first, I hide my gun on the included pocket for it. I put on a jacket to hide the actual gun. I stand and pet the kids' head. They open their eyes…

"Take care of each other alright? Call if anything happens…"

"Mhm!" they give me a big grin. How much have they grown…

"Are you ready girls?" I ask them.

"Mhm!" all of them chorused.

"Let's get going then"


	95. Chapter 95

Chapter 95:

"Oh. There was a hidden base here" Noire isn't all that surprised.

"I wonder if their main base is also nearby?" Nepgear asked.

We're generally some kilometers away from Lowee's borders. And located beside a cliff deep within a forest, there is a shutter. I have to ask Abnes through the phone if we got the address right. And of course, a secret base will have multiple points of entry, according to our little girl informant.

"Did you know of this area, Blanc? You had been the only CPU for such a long time, after all" Vert asked.

"I had no idea. I'm only interested in what happens inside my own nation" Blanc answered honestly.

"I'm not gonna forgive them for this! Kidnapping tykes and then holding them in such a place…" an angry Neptune is angry.

"There are kidnappers who make them live in hotels… just saying" those are the smart bastards.

"But ever since the kidnappings started, we were able to live together…" Plutie said.

"Iffy, and Compa, and Peashy…" she counts on her fingers.

"Yuck. Don't remind me of that last one" guilt haunts Neptune.

"Are you still upset about that?" Nepgear asked.

"How unlike you. I did not think of you as the grudge-holding type"

"I'm not angry or anything. It's like, the anger and remorse is getting smoothied inside of me"

"Like, I shouldn't act like that to a kid who's leaving, but it just burst out of me anyway…"

"…So you regret being a jerk"

"Well, when we get the chance to see her, let's apologize" I pet Neptune head to reassure her.

"Yeah, I know. But it sucks if to do it and stuff…" who doesn't feel like crap when you apologize to someone.

"Still, P-ko was totally screwing with me back then" she adds.

"If you don't learn how to admit your wrong, or know when not to be stubborn, you'll regret" Noire quotes.

"…That's a rather persuasive coming from your mouth" Blanc teases.

"A-And what is _that_ supposed to mean!?"

"Now now, no point in fretting over hypotheticals. We must first solve the problem that exists" Vert stops the two of them.

"For starters, let's get the shutter open so all of you can get in" I suggests.

"…Aren't you coming with us?" Blanc asked.

"Abnes said there was another entry point. I go there…"

"Are you sure you're fine on your own? What if those headaches started up again?" Vert is concerened. Neptune's hand holds on mine rather tightly.

"I don't think it will happen anytime soon" my instincts tell me so.

"Isn't it better to stick together, Big Brother?" Nepgear asked me.

"Yeah. But I'm getting pretty rusty on the sneaky environment. I've got to sharpen up and all…" it's been a while since I've been that.

"Well, if you say so…"

"Are you gonna alright, Jared?" Neptune asked this time.

"Don't worry. I'll be fine" I don't want her to get mad at me now. That would be utterly terrible.

"Mhm. Good luck out there"

* * *

"Is this it, Abnes? A window on the side that's a floor up?"

"_Yeah. I don't know what's inside of that window…"_

_"_I'll figure something out… Got to cut the call. You have a hacker that might be listening"

"_Save the children please…_"

"Sure, sure…" I cut the call.

Looking at my surroundings, there is no possible way to get to that window on the side of the cliff. The rocky walls are wet, making climbing a no go. There are tree's here, and I could just jump in Rambo style from them. But I don't know if the window is a bugged or not.

"Seeing as I haven't heard any alarms. I guess I should be safe…" a safe bet.

Finding the nearest tree, I climb up to the Y split gauge and try to peek inside from here. I can't see shit. Oh well, there goes preplanning. I carefully, ready myself and check the straps of my shoulder holster. With a bit of stretch, I ready myself for launch…

"Ho!" I jump towards the window. I put my feet forward and my hands as I arc towards the glass.

*SCHWASK!*

The glass shatters as I jump through. The moment my eyes meets what's inside. I see steel flooring immediately. I ready my body as I my feet lands on it. I roll over, letting inertia takes its course, softening the landing.

"Hope no one heard that…" I whisper to myself.

Standing up, it appears I'm in a warehouse of sorts with me on the catwalk. The warehouse is empty and there aren't any kids here by any stretch of the imagination. I find the shutter doors opposite of where I am. And on the side is a door. I find that there are no cameras around and the window that I am through isn't bugged.

I head down the stairs, each step echoes around the warehouse. Upon landing on the ground, I casually walk towards the door as I bring out my gun. I give this place one last look, making sure that there aren't any motion sensing technology here. Reaching the door, I turn the knob.

"Locked, typical…" and it's a two sided lock as well. I think my options.

"Guess kicking it will have to suffice" I raise my foot…

*BAM!*

And kick the door wide open. I point my gun as I step out checking my corners.

The outside of the warehouse, which is pretty much expected to be inside a cave, is on fire. No, I didn't mean that it _is_ on fire. There are cracks and upon cracks upon cracks on cave. Each of the emitting a glowing red pigment, indicating that we're surrounded by magma. The floor seem to be cold, despite the cracks, and hard. The lava must have dried out a long time ago.

"Nothing to worry about I guess… but I could use this… No wait, it'll be bad for Lowee… damn…" well destroying this place is gone in the trash.

I run silently, taking consideration of anything with each step I make. I notice that the cave floor has tracks indicating that particular warehouse is used often. Also, judging from how the cave looks inside, this is a manmade cave. After a few meters of running I see, an opening on the left before me.

I hug the wall, pointing my gun in front of me in case anyone happens to pass and spotted me. Reaching the corner, I peek around it and found nothing of interest. I check send a query to my instincts and they return nothing.

"Secret base my ass… there's no guards here…" are they asking to be sneaked inside? It doesn't matter if this is a throwaway base. You can still find some info on them no matter.

Back to this problem, my problem is I don't know where the children are being held. Asking Abnes won't help as she said she just knows where in general. Not specific. I'm going to have a field day just finding them. So what to look… there are still tracks from where I'm standing that goes forward.

"I'm going to follow this then, might be worth checking out"

I follow the tracks to nowhere. I keep a silent run and hug the wall. The red lights on the cracks glowed, emitting its 665nm wavelength in the visible light spectrum. I check my 6 every now and then, checking my instincts if I'm being followed or watched.

At the end of this small run, the tracks leads me to an open area of sorts. It's wide and big. What's noticeable is that there are 4 paths to take from here, including mine where I had exited. This area is littered with boxes. And there's also a pickup truck here, telling me this is where the tracks end.

I head over to the pickup and peek inside. I'd rather open it and see what's inside but I don't want to sound off the alarm. On face values, there's nothing worth seeing. The compartment on the passenger's side is gone. Well, I won't find anything if I just stare now, right?

I head to one of the boxes forcefully open them despite the lid being nailed.

"What the fuck is that smell!?" I step back for a bit. The smell is horrendous. I kick the box, tilting it to the ground spilling its contents.

"Rotten food…" fruits and vegetables all rotten. They might be a couple of weeks old judging from the shitty smell.

"I'm going to bet that all of these boxes are rotten food as well…" what have they been feeding this children? Well, I have no right to judge…

"So where do I go from here?" there are three paths to take from here. I could just pick whatever, but I'm on a time constraint here. So I'll just pick whatever…

"Hrm… Hm?" a fly. More specifically a _Chrysomya megacephala. _Tch… Damn it…

_"_…_" _the fly moves to my right. As though following the scent of something. I follow the fly to the right entry point. The fly buzzes of slowly, pin pointing the scent that it picked up. After a couple seconds of walking, I see a door. Where there are more _Chrysomya megacephala. _The buzz around the door trying to get in.

On the sides are shovels and all of which are recently cleaned. I return my sights on the door. My nose twitches and my instincts are throwing me warning signs. I ready my 'eyes' the flies that buzzes around the door moves away, or rather runs away.

I raise my foot and kick it wide open.

*BAM!*

The moment the door swung open, the color of red fills my vision. The smell of iron and rot mixes in my nostrils. And sound of buzzes from the flies deafens me.

"I found the children…"

...and they are all dead.


	96. Chapter 96

Chapter 96:

They say a child killer is the worst kind. But a killer in general is also worst. Kill a thousand people and anyone would think that you're just a crazy serial killer and say that 'he's on drugs or some shit'. Kill a kid, and you'll be damned from society and go as far as to say that you're the shittiest in the world. It's like in a meme, kill a thousand guys and no one will bat an eye. Kill a kid and anyone loses their minds.

"..."

Red, red, red, red red. The color red fills and engraves in my vision. Bodies on top of bodies, bathed in blood. The corpses of the kids all fill the floor of the room. A single light source in the room, adding the effect of a tragedy. The smell of something rotting, fills my lungs. I let it out through my mouth.

"...Children, huh…" my past rushes back to me.

Putting the gun back to its holster. I crouch down and take a hand from a corpse. I pull the body out from the room revealing that the body was a girl. Judging from height she's probably 7 years old. The same age as Iffy and Compa. I can see signs of rotting from the tips of her fingers and toes. And her arms and torso are a bit swollen. She's in putrefaction. 2 or 3 days to say the least.

Her mouth is wide open, maybe from me pulling her out. But judging from how her throat looks at the outside, there seems to be something stuck in it.

"Is that…?" I peek through her open mouth. I can see the edge of something similar.

I roll my sleeve and carefully open up her jaw with my free hand.

"Sorry for this…" I carefully push my hand inside her mouth. I carefully crawl my fingers through rotting flesh in finding the object. Reaching her throat, the can feel the object. I push my finger underneath it and slowly push it towards my hand. I pinch it with two fingers and pull out slowly.

"…This is…" the object of sorts is a crystal. A deep and pure crystal, small like candy with a power symbol glowing inside of it.

"…" is this the price of power? Insanity? I don't know.

I keep the crystal inside my pocket. I take the dead girl's hands and place them on top of one another on her chest. I close her mouth, fix some of the ends of her clothes and also her hair. And put her feet together.

"…Sorry I can't do much for you…" I would like to bury them. But dried out lava is hard to shovel off. And I'm on a time constraint here.

So instead, I take out my wallet and pull out some credits. I guess 4000 credits is enough for all of them.

"…Something to bribe heaven with, for all of you…" I give corpse the money.

"…I'll be investigating on your friends some more, alright?"

Entering the room of massacre, I carefully walk towards the center of the room. I stop under the room's only source of light that it has. The smell of iron tickles my nose, the buzzing of the flies deafens me. The color of blood is field in my vision. And as I stand here, under the light. It's as though that I've murdered all of these children… As though, I'll be forever haunted by the things that I'll always remember.

"…The world is a cruel place…" it's both harsh and cruel. No one is safe from its oppression. I've taken the front row seat of seeing its cruelty. After all, I was the one who…

"…" I crouch down to another corpse. A boy, 5 years old. Sprawled to the ground with its front torso facing the ground. I turn the boy, revealing that its stomach is blow wide open.

Its intestines, are all dangling by the threads. Its liver is nowhere to be seen. I can see, the ends of his esophagus dangling about. The stomach is gone as well. He's blood must have dried out, as his muscles are all stiff. He's eyes is wide open, with signs that he cried blood. And the corners of his mouth has blood to.

He died of blood lost not from his stomach being blown apart. And what caused this you asked.

"…It's this crystal…" a crystal that is said that you would become a monster or a leader in a 50/50 chance. But I see now, that it's not the case here…

"…I need to find the girls…" I turn towards the door. And carve this scene to the corners of my soul.

* * *

"Okay, 2 more paths to take. Where to go from here?" I'm running out of time. Should I head back?

"...I'll flip a coin and get this over with…" left and right, heads or tails.

I take out a coin from my wallet and place on top of my thumb. I flick my thumb, flipping the coin in the air. I catch it as it falls.

"…Tails. Okay time to go left" that was a waste of time.

I run through the hall of dried lava. The cracks between glows orange red, lighting up the path. I check my corners, every time I see a path branching out. I check my instincts if they ping anything alive. I run with my gun ready and the safety is off.

After what seems to be 500 meters of running, my instincts picked up 7 people. It's probably them. They are on that corner over there. I stack up on the corner and peek. A big old man in a suit, Mr. Badd is sitting on the floor with his daughters, that are a _Diodon nicthemerus_, all bouncing around him. The girls stands before him, interrogating him. I move as I listen…

"If you fail to meet the criteria to become a CPU, you will turn into a hideous monster…" a big old man's voice echoed.

A hideous monster…

"What…did you say?" Noire's face is shocked.

"As a CPU, you should be very well aware of the risk that you took. Hehehehehe…" a light laugh as he stands. Sinister and true.

"…You…bastard! You didn't…!?" Blanc is as surprised.

"No… that's just…" Nepgear is breathless as she holds her mouth from the shock.

"Yes. Yes, I did! Do you still wish to make an example of my daughters? Hmm!?"

"How dare you… How dare you do something so absolutely inhumane!" Vert is furious.

"Huh? Neppy, why is everyone putting on such scary faces…?"

"I dunno. I mean, I get that this is a serious moment…" Neptune answered.

"But I dunno what they're talking about, so it's tough for me to participate"

"Um, Sis. You see, what he just told us is that… um…" Nepgear is conflicted to tell her.

"These monsters _are _the children!" Noire answered. Her rage is in her voice.

"…They forced a CPU Memory on them and they turned into these creatures!" Blanc explains. An inhumane thing to do.

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh!?"

"That's right! Instead of saving these children, all you've done is cause them more harm!" he voice is happy for seeing the girl's shocked faces.

"With those blades, spears, hammers, and axes! Huhahahahaha! What can top the hilarity of this!?" he laughs.

"…Hilarity you say…"

"Hrm…!? Guh…!"

I kick him behind the knee, he kneels. The creatures jumps around angrily at me. I gave them a 'stare' and they fall back scared as a fish out of water. I point my gun to his head as I move in front of him. Hiding my 'eyes' from the girls especially from my girl. He stares at me for only a moment, and his skin is paler than snow. Eyes locked on to me, in pure horror.

"Not so hilarious now, right?"


	97. Chapter 97

Chapter 97:

"…Jared…"

"Don't, Neptune…" I can't exactly let her see me this way. I return my 'sights' on the man kneeling before me.

"How should I kill you big fat piece of shit?" the barrel of my gun touches his big fat forehead. The amount of blood that it would spray would stain my clothes if I do.

"…C'mon tell me…"

*BANG!*

I shoot the ground, letting him hear the gunfire. It woke him up from his trance. And he stares at me, as though staring death right in the face.

"…Jared, stop" Blanc's voice reaches my ears. I don't turn to her.

"…I let him go before, so some responsibility falls to me" I can hear how furious she is. And a light that comes from behind me.

" 'I'll accept my responsibility and kill him with my own hands!' "

"A-A-Are y-you fine with that? If you do, these children will…!"

*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*

I shoot at the monster children. But because they are resilient, they dodge the bullets.

"Kuiii!"

"Kiiiii!"

"No! What are you doing!?" he bellowed, trying to gather as much courage as he can inside of him to defend his daughters.

"Did I tell you to talk, shit?" but I can crush that easily.

*BANG!*

I fired my gun near his ear. He cringes from the loud noise, by now his ears must be ringing.

"Heeey, everyone…?" my instincts are now warning me.

"Goodness! P-Plutia…?" Nepgear's voice is like a scared kitty cat.

"Um, well… I don't think I can forgive this man" tch, dammit! If the madam comes out in this state she'd kill even our objective.

" 'Hey, stop! If you transform you'll lose control of yourself!' "

"That's right. Control your rage! We cannot allow these children to suffer any more harm…"

"But if they die protecting their dear daddy, that's kind of a good thing to do for them, isn't it?" the sinister tone rises.

"Whoa, that's not a wholesome stance to take! She's gone 80 percent more crazy than before!" Neptune panics

"Dammit, Plutie…" and at a time like this. Fuck!

"On a more general note, don't you all think Plutie's screws have started to come loose lately!?"

"Ugh, Let's go, everyone! Jared, let him go!" Noire orders.

"Tch, you get to live for a little while longer you piece of trash…" I return my 'eyes 'to normal and pull back my gun. I turn back and regrouped with the girls.

"But… the children…"

"Let's go Nepgear, if Plutie transforms at her state we won't even have children to save…"

"He's right, we have no solution at this time" Vert said.

" 'Dammit, I hate that all I can do is run away from this…' " you and me both Blanc, you and me both.

"Don't stop me…! I can't forgive him…!" her rage builds. I can't either. But you're case is different from mine.

"Dammit…!" I lift her up and hoist her over my shoulders.

"Blanc stay close to me, if you can tell Plutie is about transform tell me"

" 'Mhm!' "

"C'mon everyone, we have enough of this dreadful place" dreadful is an understatement. Nightmare, is close enough.

* * *

"And we ran! We ran so far away! Uh, anyway, Plutie didn't transform, did she!?" Neptune asked as we enter the basking light of the sun outside of the base.

I put down Plutie on the spot. I can clearly see the rage in her as her face has a shadow over it. I step back, and return to my woman's side holding her hand. Everyone is tired, but most of all, I can feel dread looming over them. Children turning into monsters, eh? The truth is stranger than fiction.

" 'We were able to hold her back' " Blanc untransforms.

"..Phew. If she changed during all that, I don't know what would've happened"

"But this isn't funny at all! What was with that crazy guy!?" Noire is enraged.

"I can't believe he would abduct children and turn them into monsters like that…"

"It's certainly terrible. Far worse than anything I could ever imagine!" you only know half of the cruelty Nepgear.

"We cannot harm those creatures if we run into them again" Vert said.

"Urrrrrrrrrghhhh…!" the madam descends.

" 'If you're so pissed off, then why did you stop me!?' "

"Oh, goodness! She's here…!" Nepgear panics.

"She's pissy-pants angry, too. This is bad. Really bad, right?" Neptune also.

" 'Of course I'm angry. How could anyone not be outraged after hearing that!?' " the madam sneers.

"Who isn't mad about what they heard? Even if you did 'punish' that trash, you'd kill those children as well, right?" I argue.

" 'They're monsters now anyway. If they die, isn't that the end of their suffering?' "

"And what? Go down to their level?"

" 'Says the person who shot those children earlier…' "

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…" Neptune holds my hand tight.

" '…Why did you shot them? And you had the opportunity to kill that man, right? Why didn't you pull the trigger, right there?' "

"…Plutie… Do you know how to kill someone properly?"

" '…' "

"When you kill, you kill engraving that person in your head. Engrave the deafening scream to live in your ears. Scar in your soul his last breath. tHis dying strength. Remember how that person will damn you for the rest of your living existence. How his soul will forever pray that you burn in hell and chained in darkness"

" '…' "

"…And to answer your question. I'd ruin the image that I've built until now, if I do kill him in front of all of you…" a truthful lie.

"..." Neptune holds my hand even tighter.

"…Plutie, you can go back and finish him if you want. He's still there judging from the horror on his face. But unless you remember those things earlier, well… I can't say that you won't have any nightmares…"

" '…! Tch…' " she clicked her tongue rather audibly.

"…Jared…" Neptune seeks for me.

"Don't worry…" I play with her hand, reassuring her.

"Huh? P-Plutia! Behind you!" Noire practically screamed.

*BANG!*

" '…!?' "

My brain overclocks at the last minute. I pick Neptune up by sweeping her off her feet and dodge to the side. At the corner of my eye, I see that the other girls have successfully avoided something fatal. Something big flew by and the pressurized air, from breaking the sound barrier, blew us all away. I land on a thicket, keeping both Neptune and me safe from the hard ground.

"Waaah! What's happening!?" Neptune panic's on my arms.

"Don't panic, woman!" I can't stand up at this rate.

"…Is someone…flying at us?" Blanc calmly asked as she picks herself up.

"Yes. I sense that it has a frightening amount of energy" Vert answered as she looks up in the sky finding the object.

"Are you two okay?" Nepgear asked Noire and the Madam who are both picking themselves up from their own thicket.

"Y-Yes… Somehow…" Noire answered.

" 'Who was brave enough to pull that stunt…?' " the madam questions. The sneer returns to her.

"Huh? You dodged it? Ehehe! You're hardcore, big sis!" a big loud cheery voice echoed throughout.

Picking myself up and Neptune as well, I search frantically everywhere where the voice is coming from. But there are so many things here that can make the sound waves bounce off. Making my search somewhat futile.

" 'My, what an adorable voice. I'd love to see the mouth it came from, as well!' "

"Okay, hang on. I'm coming!"

*BANG!*

With that as cue, I look up. Something small is coming straight down towards us. From this view and with the sun high in the sky, I can't make out what it is that is coming down towards us. I should get out of the way…

"Huh? Whoaaaaaa! I can't figure out how to balance this…Oh nononononono!" the voice panics from losing balance to something. I definitely need to get out of here.

"Neptune… let's get out of the way…"

"Okay!" we move out of the way.

"Hang on. This setup feels familiar, but I don't think this joke will happen a third tiiiiiime!"

*BAM!*

"Goodness! Are you okay?"

"That's our loyal landing pillow! Noire, you never let us down!"

"Something" fell of the sky above and landed on Noire. I don't know what she meant about a third time, but judging how these two sister reacted, I can get quite the gist of it. The smoke from the crash landing on Noire starts to dissipate, revealing what has heaven spewed out from the sky.

"Ouchies, I fell on my bum-bum. That was a junky landing… Now I look lame…"

" 'Huh? Hmm…' "

"…You… that form…!" Blanc is surprised.

"Are you… a CPU!?" Vert concludes instantaneously.

"Yep, yep! And my name is… Um… Something… Uh…" the girl on top of Noire, who is sprawled on the ground with a message that says 'help' written on the ground by her finger, thinks.

"Um, oh! That's right! I am Yellow Heart! It's nice to meetcha!"

The woman, called Yellow heart, has long pale blonde in a very similar shade to Vert's. She wears a white, skintight bodysuit with small amounts of dark blue or black, and red. She has black or dark blue markings on both hips and breasts, along with small red glowing segments on each piece and below the breast that compliment this. She has an odd collar-piece around her neck, and wears plain white gloves above the elbow in length. She also has on above the knee boots with kneepad pieces and blue/black coloring at the top and back of the leg. At the ankle on the front is a red glowing marking on both legs.

Attached on her wrists and backhand are big golden yellow claws resembling bracers. It's probably her weapons.

And let's get the elephant of the room out of the way. She has huge racks. Very Huge. What the heck? It's like her top is about 100 if I measure it right from face value. And they don't look fake either. If they bounce as though it has loose muscles inside it, it means their legit.

"Likewise, I guess? I think her banana-colored brain has a few bruises, no?" Neptune asked.

"That would be pretty bad…" I say.

"I agree, but those…" Nepgear stares that humongous melons.

"…Such size should be physically impossible…" Blanc is flabbergasted.

"Wh-What is this? With those, my unique has been…!" Vert realizes something dreadful, sinister.

"So Vert's been defeated, huh? Give this girl a jacket!" I shout to no one in particular. It would be funny if a jacket comes passing by.

"We got a new CPU on the block! But I think you all are still this scene's priority…" Neptune spoke randomly. I really did not understand the context of her words. Maybe…

" 'Yellow Heart, dear… What was that little show you put on earlier about?' " the madam asks coldly and sadistically.

"Earlier? Earlier means…" she rewinds a few lines inside her head.

"Oop! I forgot! I wasn't supposed to say it's nice to meet you. Forget I was nice, okay?"

"This girl's so far gone, she must've blended her brain and poured it into her chesticles…"

"More like made a shake out of it…" I added Neptune's statement.

"But if Noire stays like that, we can't really proceed, y'know?" Neptune reminded us.

"…If you really think that, then hurry up and help me!"

"Wait, Noire is alive!?" I'm shocked.

"Don't kill me off!"

"Uweeh!? A person came out of my bum-bum!? That's a surprise!" Yellow Heart is also shocked as she gets off immediately from Noire.

"Wrong! I didn't come out of anything! You landed on me!" Noire corrected.

" 'What a humorous girl. But if you continue to ignore my question, I'll get rather upset' " the madam is at her wits' end.

"Huh? What question?" and Yellow Heart's brain is well… you get the point.

" '…' " oh my, seems our madam is has her sights on this Yellow bimbo bubble head. A cold air digs in through our skin.

"Silent protagonist homage alert! Plutie's expressing herself without uttering a word!" Neptune has her hair stand up to their ends.

"Y-You know! _That! _As in, why did you attack us just now?" Nepgear asked the same question again. Trying to appease the madam.

"Ooooooohhhhhhhhh, that! Why didn't you say so?" she did, you didn't listen.

" 'Hehe…Ehehe… Ehehehehe…!' " and now the madam has a big grin on her face. Guess too much anger can turn you insane. Also the air is ice cold now.

"Whoa! She's got a big grin, but I swear something's twitching in a total pissed-off-ness!" Neptuen is shaking as she hugs me for dear life.

"This is what we call: a devil's smile"

"Hurry! Hurry and answer her!" Nepgear urges.

"Well, Papa asked me to come and take care of you all" she answered honestly. Like a kid.

A kid…?

"So that thingy that happened before was, um… Oh, um… a sneak attack!"

" 'Eeh? Sneaking up on us? That isn't a very cute joke, my lovely' " the madam sneers.

"Grr! It's no joke! If I take care of you, Mama will be happy. I'm serious!" what a good kid.

"Who are these Papa and Mama characters?" Noire asked.

"Uuuuuuh, that's a secret! They said I can't say!"

" 'What a good little girl. Do you always listen to what your Mama and Papa tell you?' "

"Hehehe, am I really good?" she cheered at herself.

" 'But if you won't tell us, sweetie, I'm afraid we'll have to beat it out of those delectable funbags!' " what and see breastmilk spraying all over? No, thank you.

"Plutia, don't be reckless. This girl's attack from before was incredibly powerful…" Nepgear tries to give sense to the already-losing-sense madam.

"Even if Sadie gets a bit careless, I don't think it's gonna be a problem"

"Kudos to that, Neptune"

"…Dammit… She's only showin' those things off because she knows they're frickin' huge…!" and that's what you're angry about, Blanc?

"I-It isn't the base size that makes the woman, but the tautness and uniform shape…" Vert tries to reason with herself.

"Doesn't all defeated women say that?" I whisper to myself.

"Uwaaa! I've heard similar lines from women who I made feel this way in the past!" it's called karma, Vert.

"Stop acting shocked by her unrealistically sized tits!" Noire transforms.

" 'Look, see? It's go time! You should get ready, too!' " Noire commands all of us to get ready.

"Okay!" The rest transforms afterwards. A sword appears before me, I catch it before it falls.

" 'If Plutie looks like she'll go overboard again, we need to stop her before she snaps' " Neptune tells everyone.

"That's suicide Neptune. Are you suggesting to stop the devil of its sadistic plans?" I asked her.

" 'Yes, good point! If we can turn this girl into a lifeless doll, I will be number 1 again!' " Vert said an evil plan.

" 'I don't think the devil has possessed Plutie right now…' " Neptune comments.

"…" I facepalm and nod afterwards.

" 'Not even I have a problem with that plan. Go for it, Vert!' " Blanc agrees with Vert entirely.

" 'D-Don't do that, you two!' " Nepgear tells that two. Hey, at least it would be a tad bit fun to watch.

"Okey-dokey, it's time to play! I'll do my best so Mama and Papa will praise me!" Yellow Heart takes an unorthodox stance.

" 'This girl is full of spunk… Hmhmhmm. She might be worth tormenting!' "

The madam's ice cold voice starts the dance.


	98. Chapter 98

Chapter 98:

*BANG!*

*CLASH!*

"*RRRRRRRRRR!*

"Gh! You've got spite you know that…!?"

Yellow Heart pushes, as my sword blocks the gauntlet between the yellow-golden claws that barely reaches me. She pushes me despite my feet planted firmly on the ground. Tracing the ground of 2 parallel lines with both of my feet.

"Yaaaaaah!"

She shouts like as though signaling a big hit from her. Her free claw moves from under her, homing in towards me. I pull the sword a little, still blocking her other hand and block that attack.

*CLASH!*

"Gh!" that was a heavy blow. So heavy that my arms are still vibrating from the shock.

Because of her uppercut movement she breaks free of our struggle. I dodge to the side, letting Vert's thrust her spear towards her.

" 'YAAAAAAAH!' "

*BANG!*

*CLASH!*

"Ga…!"

" 'Missed…' "

Out of pure luck, or maybe not, the placement of her hands blocks Vert's attack. She was probably aiming for the heart. Yellow Heart was pushed back, a result from being hit by a powerful thrust.

" 'You're not getting away!' "

Vert takes a step, grips her spear tightly and thrusts relentlessly.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

"Uwaaah! S-Slow down old lady!"

"O-Old!?"

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

Vert thrusts even faster. Pushing back Yellow Heart each time she defends herself. Sparks begin to fly all over.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

*CLASH!*

Vert stops her attack for only a few, and thrusts her spear hard. Yellow Heart blocked it with both of her hands, both of them right now flailing up in the air, probably numb from the shock.

*BANG!*

In that same moment, Noire appears. She takes opportunity to rush from Vert's side and swings her sword.

" 'I got you!' "

*SWING!*

Yellow Heart leans back from Noire's swing. And surprise, she bends back so much that even her melons are safe. Up above, Blanc is now flying downwards towards her, an axe raise. Yellow Heart bended so much, that it takes an amount of time before she is able to standup.

" 'YAAAAAAAH!' "

*CLASH!*

*BAM!*

"Gah…!"

Yellow Heart blocks the attack. But knowing Blanc's strength, the heaviness of the attack, made her body hit the ground and bounce up in the air like a rag doll.

*BANG!*

Neptune flies in from the ground. Yellow Heart catches herself in mid-air and tries to regain her balance. Neptune steps in from under her and uppercut's her as she flies upward.

*CLASH!*

Yellow Heart blocks it with her gauntlet. Neptune used the spinning motion of her uppercut to twist and perform an uppercut in mid-flight.

*CLASH!*

Causing Yellow Heart's defense to break once more.

" 'Ehehehe…' " the laugh of the madam reaches my ears.

"Eh?"

In moment, her waist is wrapped by vertebrae of what seems like from segmented sword. A whip sword to be exact. The madam sneers at this moment as the whip sword fastens.

" 'Go down!' "

"Eeeeeh!?"

Yellow Heart flies up in the air, guided by the movement of the whip. She struggles to get the whip off of her. And as she reaches the highest peak of her flight. The madam swings the other end down, whipping Yellow Heart back to the ground.

*BAM!*

"That's overkill…" I comment.

Clouds of dust wraps around where she was brought down. The madam's sneer hasn't disappeared. She swings her end of the whip sword towards the side. The whip moves and Yellow Heart comes flying out of the smoke to the side.

" 'Multiple Beam Launcher Ready!' " Nepgear shouts as the madam redirects Yellow Heart towards her.

Nepgear's barrel of her gun sword glows radiantly in multiple colors of the rainbow. Yellow Heart is forced to head towards her, towards the glowing barrel.

*BANG!*

A ray of rainbow light fires off from the gun sword. Yellow Heart uses the inertia granted to her to raise her feet and acrobatically flip above the beam and over Nepgear. The madam's whip unfastened on her waist and she landed safely on the ground behind Nepgear.

"Phew! That was…!"

*BANG!*

Neptune and I move in the moment an opening opens up. Both of us on either side of Yellow Heart. She gets ready to use her yellow-golden claws. I ready the sword on my side and swing my sword to her head.

*CLASH!*

The sword was caught in between of her claws. I use this moment to gauge at her physical strength, and I've got so say, she is strong. Realizing this, I draw a circle to throw off her strength in her arms as well as to release the sword from between the claws. On the other side, Neptune jumps and spins like a top sidewards while adding momentum to her attack.

" 'YAAAH!' "

*CLASH!*

Yellow Heart blocks the attack. Turning herself away from me, I twist as I crouch down and perform sweep kick throwing her off and stumbling forward. As Neptune plants her feet to the ground, I get up as we both assume batter's pose.

"Fooore!"

" 'Fooore!' " we both say at the same time. Okay I know that it's wrong.

*CLASH!*

Both of us swing our sword. Yellow Heart blocks it with of her gauntlets, she was thrown back a few meters away from us. Her hands drop down, probably numb from shock.

*BANG!*

*BANG!*

Nepgear and Noire flies on both of her sides. The speed through faster than speed of sound and simultaneously attack her.

*CLASH!*

Both of them pass through one another as their meet point, Yellow Heart flies upward from the power of their strikes. She flies upward uncontrollably reaching Blanc who has been waiting above.

" 'Yaaaaaaaah!' "

*CLASH!*

She swings her axe down, Yellow Heart, out of pure instinct blocks that attack again with her gauntlets. Blanc drives her down towards the ground once more, not letting her take a the slightest opportunity to counter attack.

" '…I've got you again, kid!' "

The madam fastens Yellow Heart's waist with her whip once more. She pulls her right before she is struck to the ground. She spins her once, before she lets her go, letting her fly towards toward's Vert.

" 'Now!' "

She throws her spear as powerful as she could. It wraps around in green aura as it pierces through the air and towards Yellow Heart. The spear is targeting Yellow Heart's face. She raises her both of her gauntlets and both of flies towards each other.

*CLASH!*

Yellow Heart defends herself successfully. But the force of the spear was too great and it pushes her back in mid-flight. She flies backwards to a giant boulder that is conveniently placed there.

*BAM!*

She hits her back. The boulder cracked from the resulting impact. She slides down to the ground, as the spear disappears and reappears on Vert's hand.

"Owww! O-O-Ouchies!" she stands up as she holds her back, from the pain.

"Golly, you're all really tough!" she praised all of us. And she still has the kid energy in her left.

" 'She's no joke. Even after taking all that damage, she appears completely unfazed' " Neptune comments.

"She's like a tank for the most part" I add.

" 'Then we'll just whip her until she can feel it! This level of pain doesn't satisfy me at all!' " the madam grips her whip sword tightly.

" 'Dammit, Vert! Were you seriously trying your hardest!?' " Blanc asked in a piss of tone.

" 'Of course! I struck her with the sole intention of eliminating her from this world!' " such an answer Vert. Such an answer.

" 'Please, you two…' " Nepgear tries to lower their bloodlust.

" 'Calm down, seriously. We have the advantage here, so if we can just keep it up…' " Noire adds.

"Oh, fun! So it's okay if I do my best too, right?" hrm? Yellow Heart said something really disturbing. That my instincts are tingling me.

" 'Your…best?' " Neptune notices the phrase.

" 'So before this, you weren't trying your hardest?' " Nepgear asked her.

" 'Don't fall for it! She's clearly not bluffing!' " no, she's not Noire.

"Papa said I could use this move only one time… So here I go! Wheeeeeee!"

At the corner of my eye, I see rainbow sprinkles appearing. I follow them with my eyes until I see them, gathering around Yellow Heart. Her outline are slowly being coated in rainbow sparkles, and the yellow pupils of her eyes forms into a power symbol. The rainbow outline of her body are so visible now, and more of those rainbow thingies are still gathering on her.

" 'G-Goodness! Wh-what is iths!?' " Nepgear is surprised by the amount of power.

" 'This… cannot be happening! Where is she storing all of this energy!?' " Vert is surprised as well.

" 'This is looking pretty bad!' " no shit, Blanc.

" 'HmHehe, if I take such a rock –hard beating, I might just scream in unrivaled pleasure…!' " you're a sadist and a masochist, madam?

" 'Don't try to sound sexy right now!' "

" 'Everyone, take cover!' " Neptune commands all of us. But she's too late to snap us all back.

"Here… we… GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Yellow Heart screams as light, brighter than anything expands from around her. There's no time to take cover. So I cover my eyes with my arms from the blinding light, and move in front of Neptune as we are all swallowed by it.

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*


	99. Chapter 99

Chapter 99:

"Guh! Fucking hell…!?" I groan as I wake up.

Green and blue colors reaches my retina. The wind seems to calmly breeze along above me. The leaves sway and dance. I can't hear any other signs of life other than mine and some birds up hiding in the trees. Shit, Neptune! I try to get up…

"Gh!" …and numbing pain strikes like lightning.

"My arm… and my shoulder…" I determined the source of the pain. My right arm is bent in a way that it wasn't made to, and my other arm is dangling from the separation of the ball and socket.

"…And my ribs are broken as well, as always…" and one of them has probably pierced my lungs.

"Gah…_haa, haa…_" I can't breathe properly. Having one functional lung is hard as always.

"Neptune…!" telling my body to listen to me, I force my upper body to get up, without using my hands, against the waves of pain gushing towards me.

I look around and see that I'm at the edge of a forest. I can see the place where the battle ended. I look around and see that the trees and plants are leaning outwards from the battle area. There are also no signs of life, I see from where I'm standing. I take a step…!

"Even my left leg is shit…" I'll be limping my way to her then.

I walk on one leg, dragging my other leg like a log. I use my other leg to give me a slight support, even though it hurts like shit, as I place my only working foot forward. I lean on a tree at the very edge of the forest, and marvel at the amount of damage that beholds me.

There is one giant crater. Wide and long. I can discern that it's 50 meters in radius. I look around and see no signs of our opponent earlier, guess she thought we were already done for. I look around for a bit, searching for one person in particular.

"Got ya…" with haste, I slowly walk towards her.

I can see her feet and shoes from the bushes. I limp my way towards her, each step praying to any omnipotent being that can hear me. My destination slowly comes closer, as though tormenting me. And each step agonizes me, literally. And as I turn from the bush to see her, I almost saw the very same 'scene' on that 'event'.

"Thank gawd…"

Neptune is lying face up on the ground, presumably knocked out. On face value she doesn't seem to be hurt in anyway. I limp my way to her and fall on my knees before her. I can't exactly lift her up in the state of my arms.

"Neptune… hey…" I calmly call out to her.

"Nn…"

"Neptune… C'mon… wakey wakey…"

"Mmmn…"

"Hey, come on… wake up…"

"J… Jared…"

"Yeah, it's me… c'mon… wake up"

"Jared!"

"Whoa!"

Neptune suddenly sits up. She turns to me in a hurry, worried for me. If she's this worried then I guess she's fine, apart from a few blisters and bruises of course. She comes towards me.

"Are you okay?"

"Of course, not. I've got a broken arm, leg and shoulder" I answer honestly.

"N-Nepu, I can't fix that with my charm, huh?"

"Unless you're a surgeon. And why would you assume that?" I ask her, knowing how she's going to relate to some pop culture.

"Oh, you know, when a boy sees their girl smiling, the boy will _always _auto-heal instantly, right?"

"Um, no. That isn't how it works…"

"And, they'll always stand beat the boss with their monologue saying: 'I'll always protect that smile of hers!' or something along the lines"

"Well, that is plausible" and it sounds corny. Well, I do understand what she is trying to imply.

"…I'm okay, for the most part. Can you cut off my shirt?" I ask her.

"Mhm…" worriedly she nods.

She rips off a fabric from my shirt at a length. I tell her to raise my left arm slightly and carefully. Then, she catches the arm with the cloth of my shirt and ties both ends behind my neck. After finishing one arm she reaches to my shirt once more for the other arm.

"Don't worry too much about the other. It'll hurt like crap if I move it now…"

"Mhm…" she nods. I would give her a pet but my free hand is shit.

"…C'mon. Let's go find the others…" reminding her that, she takes my other arm carefully and offer's her shoulders. We both raise ourselves, not without some sort of pain from all of my fractured parts.

* * *

"Blaaaah… I can't walk another step…" Plutie leans on Nepear as the elevator rises.

"Please hang in there. It's not far now, until we're at home…" Nepgear reminds.

After finding everyone still intact. We made sure to rest for a bit before we depart back to Planeptune. But even that, we can still feel the weight of the explosion earlier as though it had sapped most of our cheery energy. And also, the fact that we lost. Well to me, it's no big deal. Win some, lose some, right? But I can't say the same for the others.

"This marks the first time I'm going to your place without a spring in my step…" Vert mumbles.

"What'll we tell the chilluns? Maybe Noire can break the news" Neptune said. Trying to add a bit of our normal exchange into the mix.

"Wh-what!? Why me?" Noire reacts strongly to this.

"Because you're more reliable when it comes to be frank…" I tell her the reason.

"Don't give me that reverse psychology!"

"…Not to mention the new CPU" Blanc reminded us all of our opponent earlier.

"Ugh, what was with bananer boobs? How 7 of us lose to her? She's totally a mary stu character!" Neptune is frustrated.

"Or maybe she was a plot device to make us all lose on purpose and so the author could laugh to make the readers go piss!"

"Jeez, why can't animerelated lover do he's scenario-making seriously!" she blames the author now.

"You know, the author is doing nothing more but reworking the original scenario's for both of us" I tell her. Hope author guy doesn't stop typing.

"U-Um, Sis… Maybe you shouldn't get so upset over you own wild, self-aware theories…"

"…And while you had your stupid monologue, we made it" Noire said as the elevator reaches the very top. Noire keeps the doors closed.

"…You go in first, Neptune" Blanc said.

"Bawww, me first? But then it like automatically means I gotta do all the 'splainin…"

"Hurry up, Neppy… I can't stand it any longer…" Plutie said in a begging manner. Her legs are shaking.

"Boo. Fine, Noire open the door…" on Neptune's word. Noire presses a button and the elevator doors opened. Since I'm still relying Neptune for support, we both exited.

"Histy, we're home and stuff"

"Oh, everyone! It is terrible! Something terrible is happening! ((=￣□￣=;),)" I think I'm seeing a pattern here.

"You gotta be crappin' me. Again?" Neptune whispered and sighed after.

"That's crap for you…" I whisper as well. No rest for the weary, I guess.

"What now? Every time we come here, you're all 'terrible, terrible' but now it's our turn to say it!" Neptune releases some stress in her chest.

"Shut your mouth and come over here!" Abnes called from the living room.

"And no one is worried about an arm on a sling, eh…" I have good friends around me indeed.

All of us walk towards the living area. My left leg isn't fully 'healed' yet, so I cringe every time I use it to support myself. Once we reached the living area, kid-Iffy and kid-Compa are watching the TV. Neptune puts me down on the far side of the room, she also sits beside me. Great gawd, this arm needs to 'heal' fast.

"The show's been on all day" kid-Iffy said. As she stare at the TV.

"The channel is the same" kid-Compa said as she changes channels.

"It's the news…" I concluded. The reporter seems to be interviewing someone about a hacking incident earlier.

"…The news…?" Plutie cocks her head to the side.

"It's the just the news. What's the big deal?" Noire said.

"Watch and you will understand!" Histy said.

It seems we missed something _really_ important, not really, earlier. And now, the news are just revisiting those said events. After the interview was over, the reporter turns to the camera and said something about a video that was released via a hacking earlier. The video was recorded and will now be played right now.

_"H-Hello, Gamindusti. It's nice to meet you all"_ a blue haired girl with matching eyes that is accompanied with thing frame glasses says in the video. I know you…

"_I am the, um, representative of the Seven Sages, Rei Ryghts_" she seems to be nervous as heck.

"She represents them? But she's the woman from our world who…" Nepgear seems to taken aback at this.

"She's probably _this _version of Rei Ryghts as well…" I said. Like how 2 Noire's acts the same despite dimensional differences.

"Yeah, I guess she was, maybe" Neptune adds.

"_Psst. Rei, your expression is too stiff. We're about to switch cameras, so put on a cute smile!_" a voice in the background, which I would presume to be Anonydeath, says.

_"O-Oh! I'm sorry… I'm rather nervous…" _we can tell.

"_No need to apologize, honey. Please continue reading the cards_" Anonydeath, presumably, said.

"_All right. Um, ahem…_" she coughs once to clear her throat and peers at the bottom of the screen. Probably to read the cards.

"_We of the Seven Sages have been striving to make a world free of CPUs and where e-everybunny is equal_"

"…Quite the proclamation" Blanc can't help but smile.

"Animal rights. What a noble cause…" I think I can join them if that's their goal.

"Making Rei do this was a stupid idea. I would've nailed it…" Abnes mumbled.

"Sushm dear. Vertypoo can't hear the television…"

"_Psst, you're stuttering and messing up the words. But it was cute, so don't worry!_" Anonydeath, presumably, exclaimed.

"_D-Did you just say I was cute!? Oh, um, er… I mean…_" now Rei looks like a maiden in her tootsies.

"_However, fair Gamindustri, our efforts have been brocked by the CPUs at e-ebbry… turn…_" brocked? And ebbry?

"_Ugh… I'm so sorry… I'm such a failure as a representative…_" oh, we don't mind…

"_Sweetheart, the script! Just follow the _script!" her director shouts.

"_Oh, I'm sowwy – I mean, sorry! _" she bows to apologize.

"_S-So, we've decided to protect you from the CPUs who are intent on plotecting your… oh, o-oops…_" this too funny that I can't take it seriously.

"_A-And we have decided to introduce and pledge our support to a new CPU!_" she practically screamed that part.

"Oooh fun… They'll support a new CPU…" Plutie still has question marks above her head.

"Nuh-uh, no way! They wouldn't!" Neptune intently says. Guess she knows what everyone is thinking right now.

"_A-Aillow me to introduce her. This is our new CPU. Th-This is Lady Yellow Heart!_" Rei steps aside to reveal the new CPU.

"_Whee! I'm… uh, Yellow Heart! It's so cool to be on TV! Hi!_" our Yellow bimbo headed opponent earlier appears.

"I knew it!" oh, synchronized confirmation from.

"_With Lady Yellow Heart at the center of the Seven Sages' operations, um… here? Uh…_" she seems to be distracted by something.

"_Sweetpea, it's the last card, so make it count!_" her director supports her all the way.

"_Uuuuugh…_" she gathers energy.

"_Today, we proudly proclaim the founding of a new nation…_" she breathes in air.

"_Eden!_"

"_Proclaim, proclaim. Whee!_"


	100. Chapter 100

Chapter 100:

"It's time…"

Upon opening my eyes the ceiling above greets. The night moves on slowly on this crescent moon night. With the new introduction to the country Eden, I wouldn't be surprised if any of the girls can't sleep right now. But the reason for me being awake now isn't that.

My mind is still revisiting that room. A room full of the color of red. The smell of their corpses linger in my nose. The taste of iron resurfaces on my taste buds. The noise of those silent cries as depicted on their faces replays in my ears. I guess even someone like me, who had to make that 'pile', can feel disturbed at that scene. You learn something new every day, as they say.

…Or maybe because I'm getting soft.

"Right then…" I get out of my covers and roll up my sleeping bag with one hand. I place it beside my bag and head towards the changing room.

Upon opening the changing room lights. I head towards the sink and twist on the faucet. I gather my right hand under the water, lean in close and splash my face. I look at myself in the mirror, as though gauging at the devil himself.

"…A devil… eh?" oh, the irony.

Standing up straight and observe at my physical condition. My right arm is completely healed. No deep purple markings. This left shoulder is already back to where it is, I'll take the makeshift sling off when I put on my jacket. I also need to change shirts, since this one had been ripped off and let's see… Oh, and my left leg is back in good condition. I guess I'm back to my usual self. As though nothing has happened to me.

"...I really should stop expecting…" nothing is going to change. The 'world' won't, and 'I' can't.

"…Enough blabber, let's get going…" with steeled conviction, I head out of the changing room.

* * *

"Here again…"

After walking through the forest night, not without killing some monsters, I walk up to the wall with a single broken window. I look around and there are still no camera's to spot me. I'm back to their secret base again. The reason, well… let's say, for now, it's just for information gathering.

"Lights…" from the inside I see lights shining through the window after I stared at it for a little while. That means, that someone is now using the warehouse.

Climbing up the tree that used earlier in the morning, I jump towards the open window with ease this time. Since I know that I'll be making noise, and a huge gamble, I've already set my gun.

*THUD!*

Upon rolling, I immediately hugged the wall in hopes that no one saw me. Inside, I see a truck making its beeping sound as it reverses inside the warehouse. There's one man inside for now, and seems to be preoccupied in both the beeping and guiding the truck inside that he hasn't heard me. Looking around some more, it seems there is another truck outside, maneuvering to reverse park in here.

I take this chance and head down the stairs with silent steps as to not alert them. When the truck finally settles down, the man positioned on the second truck to guide the driver inside. I move behind the first truck that went in and crawl under, making sure that both the driver and the man outside doesn't notice.

"Haaa… Man, o man. They really work us hard, don't they…" the driver steps down and whined.

He walks pass me to the back of the truck, presumably to meet up with his friend who is guiding the other truck inside. When the truck stop, the other driver comes out and whined like the first one.

"…*Sigh*… My wife's going to kill me if I'm this late…" he said, as he walks towards the exit.

"Haha… I told you that you shouldn't get married until you're contract is finished!" the other one said following, the 2nd driver's footsteps.

"Wasn't he drunk that when he proposed to her?"

"Oh no, no. What actually happened was…"

"Hey, knuckle heads. Want me to put permanently shut you up?"

"Tch… Hot headed as ever…"

The lights above shuts off, turning everything into pitch black darkness. I hear the door slams shut, indicating that I'm alone in this warehouse. I crawl to the side, getting out of here. Once I stand, I pop open my cellphone to light me towards the driver's side of the truck. I climb up to open the door.

"Of course it's locked… stupid…" I curse at myself.

Peering through the window, I see nothing in particular at face value. Guess, they are just normal workers then. I hop down and walk towards the door. I turn the knob and is surprised that the door was unlocked.

I close the phone and return it inside my pocket. I slowly open the door and point my gun first, checking my corners. Concluding that there are no guards to speak off, I head out and retrace my steps towards that room. Still making sure to check my corners well.

Arriving at the open area, I hide in a shadow pocket. There are 2 men here, each carrying a bag over their shoulder. They place the bag on the back of a pickup truck that carries even more bags. Once the do, both of them heads towards the path on the right. Their cleaning up.

"…Great gawd almighty. I thought our contract was to give these shites that crystal and see what happens next…" one of them complained.

"That bitchy voice over the telephone said that we won't get our money if we just leave them like that…"

"So that's why half of the money arrived… Damn we do her shit and we clean up the left overs…"

"…I know… C'mon, let's cleanup fast so we can go home…"

"Contract? I see…" a pretty standard plan. Hire someone to do your dirty work and burn all records your connection of them afterwards. That would ensure that your hands are clean on the said case if it arises.

I'm guessing that their contract was to see if these children were able to properly transform into a CPU or not. And those that did transform into a monster, were to be sent to Mr. Badd. Judging from the exchange earlier, they probably saw the whole show. And since it was, technically, their doing. Their client told these 2 to clean up their own mess. The Seven Sages are keeping everything clean here.

I wait a bit until the 2 reappear once more each carrying a bag over their shoulders. Once they put down the bags, and headed back to the room to get some more, I walk silently behind them, as though they are my best buds.

"…Phew, last 2 and we can blow this joint…"

"Where should we throw them?"

"The sea or whatever… I just need the money…"

"…I'm pretty sure burying them would be the most sensible thing to do, right now…"

"Huh?"

I take the arm of the guy on the left and quickly pull him towards me almost hugging him. I put the barrel of my gun at point blank range and quickly make small adjustments. As he was about to gather strength to make a comeback, I squeeze the trigger.

*PEW!* *PEW!* *PEW!* *PEW!*

His body acts as a silencer, as the bullet flies out from his back and shoots through the other guy's femur, shoulder, arms and feet. He falls on his back resisting pain as I throw the guy leaning on me to the side. I walk towards him, checking if I have more bullets left.

"You know, I don't have much time. So tell me, who hired you?" I point my gun to his head as I asked nicely.

"Guh…! Fuck you…! W-why should I tell you!?" wrong answer trash.

I raise my foot and stomp it heavily on the shot femur which is bleeding profusely. As he was about to scream in the intense pain. I raise my other foot and stomp it on his mouth, shutting him up.

"Look, let's make this easy on ourselves… Give me a name already" I step on his femur even more as I remove my other foot on his mouth.

"Gh!... I don't know the name!... B-But it sounded like a little girl!"

"And… what exactly did that 'little girl' asked you two to do?"

"I don't know…!"

"Wrong answer again…" I crouch down, adding weight the stepped on gunshot wound. I rip off his clothes and made a ball. I force on his mouth, forceful enough so that he won't push it out. I stand and raise my leg once more. And stomp in his femur repeatedly as though crushing an insect.

"Mgh! Gh! MMmmg! …MG! MMGH!" he's muffled screams reached no one. I pull off the rolled cloth.

"…She told us… to head here… s-she gave us a pass to this place…"

"And?"

"…And then force feed t-the tykes here… that…"

"That what?"

"…Crystal…"

"Like this one?" I pull out from my pocket a small crystal with a power symbol.

"…H-How did you…!"

"Oh, no problem really. Last question, what exactly did you see?"

"...Bl-blood a-a-and… children… turning into monsters…"

"Good. Here's a reward… you piece of shit…"

I lay down my gun while stepping on his femur to stop him of resisting. I grab his nose closing his nostrils. He's hands try to pull me off of him as his mouth opens wide to take in oxygen. I use this chance and slip my crystal inside his mouth. He tries to spit it out but I cover his mouth with my hand.

*GULP!*

Eventually I hear gulping a noise and step back to observe the reaction.

He holds is throat despite the pain that I inflicted on his arm. He rolls and crawls towards me with tearful eyes. I 'stare' back at him watching the little trash struggle. He stops crawling and let his head meet the ground trying to vomit out the crystal that I made him swallow.

"*Cough!*…_haa, haa… _*Cough!*…"

His ears have started to bleed and I can see signs on the ground where he kneels that blood is leaking out from his body. His body starts to shake uncontrollably.

"H…h…help!" he cries in between ragged breathes.

"Fuck no" trash should go to trash after all.

"Gh…! Gu….!"

His looks at me, with eyes full of unimaginable pain. He's open mouth silently screams of help. He reaches towards me. As blood gargles up from his throat. He closes his mouth to resist vomiting, bulging on his cheeks.

"Guaah…!"

He vomits blood in front of me, spitting out the crystal in the process. He falls lifeless on the ground, with bloody eyes still yelling the immense pain that he felt.

"That was long…" it took almost a minute.

"If these two are cleaning up that means they're abandoning this place…" with the announcement of Eden, they need to make their reputation a little bit more grand and not let their history caught up with them.

"The 3 before are probably at the same circumstance…" hired to kill children kidnapped here and clean up their own mess. There's probably more of them inside.

"They're probably going to kill the hired people here anyway..." I wouldn't be surprised if a squad was to clean sweep everyone in here. And seeing as the base is located on top of a cold solidified lava, I'm guessing that they're going to use natural phenomenon.

"Heh, only this time, Seven Sages…" I almost laugh at myself.

"Let me help you destroy this place and murder everyone in it..."


	101. Chapter 101

Chapter 101:

There will always be a time where people will stop learning. A time where something so incomprehensible that the human mind will never understand. That is why people will always seek for the breadcrumbs. As though trying to go deeper only to be swept back to the shore once again. Lingering over the map of life, riddled with road signs and detours, and still asking for shortcuts and directions.

"I see… thanks for the insight"

"…_haa, haa_…" my 'host' huffs in air.

"Hey…"

*SNAP!* *SNAP!*

I snap my fingers, making sure his attention returns to me. He looks at me with empty eyes. As though damning me straight to hell. Oh, come on now. A few punches in the face isn't enough to kill you, you know. Or probably not.

"Next. I heard that you're one of the men that destroyed that base 10 years ago? What were your orders?"

"…guh… We were ordered… to… shoot down everyone inside that base… and blow it up… that was just it…"

"Good, good. Last question, then…"

"Who gave you those orders?" I ask grimly.

"…It was… little girl's voice…"

"…" again with that. And judging how he described it, he doesn't know anything else.

"Good, now…" with one hand I cover his mouth and with the other on his forehead.

"…I need to make sure that you don't spread anything about me…" I 'stare' at his eyes before I add strength to my arms.

"MgmgmH!"

*BREAK!*

Upon twisting his neck, he's head looks down lifeless. A scared expression on his face.

"…*Sigh*…Cleaning is way harder than it looks…" and I've got a rendezvous with a certain fairy 2 hours from now.

It's been 10 years since Eden was chartered. And I, the passerby, haven't said that to myself in a while, was tasked to gather info on them. Of course, I tasked myself that and a certain fairy wants to come along for the ride. And I'm in Eden _all_ the time. A certain woman would get worried about me.

I do have a personal side investigation which is this 'little girl's voice' that I've been getting. Since that time at the base, almost everyone that I 'asked' gave me that answer. Including this dude right here. Here is a list of what a learned:

1\. She's too secretive. Top notch. No pictures, or whatnot, just a voice.

2\. She is most probably affiliated or working for the Seven Sages. But the lack of info on her when I asked Abnes about it, proves that she is the former.

3\. Thorough in using others well. If I'm right, she just hires people to do what she wants. And after that, she hires people some more for cleanup.

4\. And… this level of planning reminds me of a certain someone.

Manipulating others to do what you want and manipulating some more to get rid of the former. Plus making sure that nothing will come back to you. It reminds so much of 'him'. That's why I've taken this side investigation of mine seriously. Well, I could have passed this off as a coincidence, but I can't be too careful.

My initial plan 10 years ago, was to just bury the kids. But since I heard the term 'contract', everything just went deeper and deeper. It seems rather connected and also loose. From that shadow figure to my recent relapse. Of course, I'm looking at breadcrumbs here. And I know I'm not seeing the whole picture. Since it's too damn deep, my fruitful searches are just few and far between.

Just like this guy for example, I just recently knew that he was a military guy under Eden and one of the squad members that was supposed to destroy that base thanks to yours truly. And since Eden is a new nation, it took a hell of a lot of time to find a loophole to penetrate inside. I think I wished to be fairy then since mini-Histy had it easy.

Prior before asking him about my side investigation. It took me a hell of time to know this fellow. I asked a few guys here and there then made sure nothing will come back to me. I also made sure that I ask about Eden and everything before my personal questions. And after a few guys, I found this fellow. And whoop-de doo! He's also useless in providing me a solid lead for my own.

"*Sigh*…Faking someone's death is hard…" mentally speaking.

The problem is, if I don't, they'll know of my presence immediately. I can just traumatize them, but who knows what happens afterwards. That 'little girl' might pick them up then make them sing about what I asked like the national anthem. Making both my info gathering on Eden and my side investigation a little hard. And killing them also bears a risk, but it would also be hard for me to be picked up by someone if I do it right.

"*Sigh*…Well, let's get my artistic side to come out on this one again, I really need to go home…" I do smell like shit.

Enough about me, let's talk about what has happened over the last 10 years or so over the goddess's side of things:

1\. Neptune and I still haven't married yet. Since conditions on said marriage still hasn't been met yet. But hey, if our relationship is this deep, one could infer us to be married already.

2\. While Histy and I work to gather info. The 6 are trying to get their shares back. But ever since the revelation about most of kids turning into monster through a crystal they're still being pushed back. And;

3\. Yellow Heart, always wins against them.

4\. Also, Iffy and Compa are all grown up now. Yay! And just like, their counterpart, Iffy decided that I should enroll her in the Guild. While Compa decided that I should enroll her into nursing school. It's funny how different truths omit the same patterns. A parallel world indeed.

* * *

"…She's late…" I really need a bath right now.

I'm waiting in an alley between 2 buildings. Wearing a hood that would cover my face, since there are cameras here. My partner in crime is late for 3 hours and with the sun rising high above, it's getting a bit hot. With nothing to do, I observe Eden through the limited view of the alley.

Eden looks like, frankly speaking, a city in the industrial revolution trying to be a futuristic city. A city almost painted in black and yellow lines. The citizens here doesn't mind the color of the city as long they revere the CPU here. Most of the citizen's here stand out too much because of the city's color scheme. There are however variances here and there but are mostly few.

Their Basilicom is really hard to find. Because of the color, I wouldn't guess that thing that looks more or less like a bunker painted in black and yellow lines was the fuckin' Basilicom. Well, I would have guessed because of the amount of security. But I mean c'mon. They would have made it less confusing.

"Ah, Jared. Sorry I'm late. (シ_ _)シ" hearing the fairy's voice I look up and she descends eye level.

"Have you learned anything new today? (｡･ω･)ﾉﾞ"

"Nothing new. Same old security measures, a map of the Basilicom's insides and all that jazz. Nothing new of the sort"

"And about their plans? (゜-゜)"

"They're keeping everything centralized. And with them spearheading everything. Even I don't know what their plans are"

"I see…Well, let's go home. I imagine that you too need a bath as well…(⌒▽⌒)"

"What, you too? Where have you been squeezing through?"

"Sorry, I can't tell you that. (⌒_⌒;)"

"Right. Oh well, women needs to have a few secrets every now and then" I shrug.

"C'mon. Let's go back"


	102. Chapter 102

Chapter 102:

"So Big-Histy, if the riots have gone to an all-time worst now. We really will need military order now"

"_But…_"

"I know how you feel. It would cause unrest but it would be too disastrous if we do but that would be of a last resort. Next, tell me about Iffy…"

"_She said that, mysteriously, supplies are being distributed in 13 different routes. We tried to cover them up, but they still find a way in the most creative manner_"

"Well, humans always makes the most brilliant things. Not a surprise. And? With all your efforts it still got through security…"

"_Yes. At one point, IF said that she'd fallow where the package are being taken to…_"

"And lost the trail, I wonder…"

"_It seems that the people that are delivering are quite good_"

"Hrm… Okay, give this a shot. Make sure that Planeptower is safe. And review your employees, we don't need anyone being all sneaky inside and knowing the layout. Next, Iffy should continue her supply job, since everything will go down to shit eventually"

"_Okay…_"

"Next, the rest of the CPUs should be in Planeptune. With Planeptune being a goddess-less country right now they'll still continue in their ways, so we need the presence"

"_But what about their country?_"

"Even if they suddenly disappeared and left Planeptune, they'll be spread too thin to turn over three leaderless country. And if they decided to band together to turn over one country. We just repeat the process" after all flight is faster than just walking.

"_*BEEP!* *BEEP!*_"

"Hm? Is that my phone?" I check my phone.

"_No, it seems there's a message from IF. Excuse me…_" big-Histy looked away from the screen most probably there is another holographic screen right next to our conversation.

"_Jared, this is terrible!_"

"*Sigh*…" fairies indeed.

"_It seems IF have infiltrated weapons_"

"My, my. About time they we get a sign…" maybe I should clap my hands. If they're gathering an army during this whole fiasco, then this a good time to execute one of my plans.

"Okay, there's a guy in one of your ranks named Lucas, give this part of the feed to him, alright? He's part of the disbanded gang" by luck he may gather the whole gang.

"_What do you propose then?_"

"Leanbox, gather intel. Lastation, provide support. Lowee, gather a number. Planeptune, stand your ground" that should do the trick.

"_Eh? Why didn't we did this before?_"

"Because we might slip just like them…" in every beginning of an operation, it would always start of well. But time degrades everything. So if we gather an army before then, there's a chance that we'd be discovered just like how we did to them. So now is a good time.

"_I see. That would certainly happen. But maybe if we just did…_"

"We could have… C'mon, let's keep our heads high. We've got a home to save, alright?" I encourage her.

"_Mhm. Anyway, is that all to your plan?_"

"If we didn't learn anything new about our Rei Ryghts leader. Then we're still one step behind. So that's all there is, just stay on the defensive and slowly dry out the fire"

"_Alright. Take care…_"

"Take care to you too…" our call ends.

"*Sigh*…Am I really on vacation?" it's hard to give long distance planning if we aren't actually there.

"With everything that is happening, I don't blame you（＾_＾）"

With the recent call from Big-Histy ended, I massage my temples as the elevator rises to our floor. I've been doing a whole lot of thinking recently that it's just jarring. Nothing that I should just complain about since I'm lumping my own work unto myself, but…

"…I'm going to need to buy some pills…" …keeping myself thinking all the freakin' time makes me gain more headaches.

Also, I took a bath at some public bath before coming home, I just can't stand it any longer.

*DING!*

With the elevator doors now opened, both mini-Histy and I went in. It seems there are more randomness occurring inside. It's always a refreshing scene to look at, it keeps my head organized.

"We're home" I announce as we enter the living area.

Everyone is here sitting in the floor. Iffy, _this _Iffy I mean, and not _our _ Iffy, is agonizing over something. _This _Compa, all grown up and still has, of course, her signature klutziness, is staring at the oven intently. Maybe she's staring at how snacks turns to crisp when they cook inside the oven.

-Also, I'll add that _this_ Iffy and Compa still prefers the same clothes that _our _Iffy and Compa wears. So refer to that if you need a description.

"Jared, welcome home!" Neptune runs over to me, giving me a hug. I pet her head.

"I wondered what the loud noises I heard were" Histy said.

"Oh, welcome home, Histy. We were just chatting about the time Iffy peed all over herself"

"Don't word it out that way! I didn't do it!" so that's what Iffy has been agonizing over.

"Oh, I remember that part well…"

"Snacks are ready!" Compa announces as she lays down a tray full of biscuits from the oven to the well-carpeted floor of the living room area. Neptune, Histy and I settle in on the very relaxing atmosphere along with everyone else. I reach out for the biscuit and took a bite. Oh, this is good.

"Oh, these look scrumptious. Your culinary skills have leveled up once again" Vert praises as she takes a snack.

"Aw, thanks! I always do my best so Nep-Nep and Plu-Plu can fill their tummies to bursting. But if it wasn't for Ge-Ge, I wouldn't have made it this far" Compa adds that last bit.

"I bet that your moved to tears, Nepgear. *Nom!*" I can't get enough of these biscuits.

"Mhm. And Compa is a much better cook than me, so I'm proud" my little-sister-in-law to-be should make a great teacher for elementary students.

"Jar-Jar is a much better cook than me. So I can't top his" Compa said.

"Right now though. I think yours are about to rival mine…" a few improvements on the small stuff and someone is going to beat me. I'll cry of joy if she does.

"I'm jealous you get to eat so much delicious food every day" Noire says with a smile as she buries her consciousness to the lovely snacks.

"Hehehe… We're lucky…" Plutie is delighted.

"Bwahaha! No matter how jealous you get, I'll never give up our precious cook!" Neptune puffs her chest out, proud of the cooks.

"*Nom* *Nom* *Nom*…More, please" it seems with all of us eating everything at the same time, we didn't notice that we had eaten it all. But with Compa to the rescue, she puts down another tray and we resumed eating.

"So… So… So… Was everyone watching me…? Did everyone see me do it…?" and Iffy is still agonizing over her peeing?

"You know… she _did _almost peed on me…" I think.

"Eh? N-N-No way…"

"…Yup, pretty sure she peed... I think…"

"Uguh… And… and… of all people… It has to be… Uuuuh…" nimbus clouds forms above her head. Not really, but you get my point.

"Please calm down, IF. It was a long, long time ago" Nepgear says. Traumas are hard to forget.

"It has been a long time since we were last able to sit together and enjoy a snack. o(*^▽^*)o" mini-Histy sounds delighted.

"Indeed…" for her and me, it has been quite a while. I hold Neptune's hand for the sake of it.

"Histy and Jarey, you've seemed really super-duper busy lately…" Plutie said.

"Does it have something to do with Eden?" Vert asked for confirmation.

"Yes. Learning their plans. (-_-; Finding and calculating damage. Gathering intel is quite difficult"

"Especially the ones we that are just essential…" I've asked a number of people. But the info is too tight around on just the Seven that any loopholes I see will get covered almost immediately. If I go James Bond on this, I know damn well, that I'll be discovered. And to think 10 years was enough time to gather enough intel. Oh no, no, especially if the organization is quite in its peak right now.

"I do not contain enough processing capabilities to parse the needed information" mini-Histy added.

"Junky calculator…" Neptune whispered.

"Do you think I will let you say that word in my presence?" did I hear some veins popping from mini-Histy?

"We're sorry. We haven't been able to do anything…" Nepgear apologizes.

"…We're doing all we can" Blanc reassures the fairy and me.

"You have done nothing wrong, so there is no need to fret" mini-Histy says to the two.

"We know how to get our shares back, but we keep losing, so we can't put our plan into action" Noire said. Wait, we have a plan!?

"Huh? Who planned a plan? What's the plan of this plan?" Neptune asked excitedly.

"Classified. I'll tell you when the time comes'

"I bet its filled cats…" I whisper under my breath. 100 bucks on that though.

"That was quite a feast, Compa. Well then, I shall head back out and continue my work. (*・▽・*)" Histy floats above us after she finishes eating her fill.

"You're going to keep working?" Compa asked.

"Why not rest your wings and take a break for today? Everyone's here, after all…" Iffy suggests.

"I would certainly like to, but things will get delayed for the time I do not work" such a diligent fairy.

"Keep spinning your hard drive like this and you'll overheat. You're such a junky old cow PC!" Neptune said.

"Make such a comment about my abilities again and I will grow rather angry" so I did hear veins popping from her.

"I know! Let's all give Histy and Jarey a hand…" Plutie had suggested something wonderful! Something that any Plutie fan should rejoice about! And yeah… I won't have a break either.

"You mean _all _of us?"

"Yep, yep. She and Jarey helped us out so many times, it's our turn to help them…!" touching words.

"O-Oh, my… Plutia…(/▽/)"

"I have dreamed of this day for many years… To hear those words from you… (;ω;`)" and she's crying!

"I guess we don't have much else to do" Noire said.

"It might help us in the days to come if we get as much information as possible" she adds an excuse.

"…As usual, you make tons of little excuses for everything" I agree with Blanc entirely.

"Whatever. It's fine, isn't it? Is there a problem with what I said?"

"…No. I just thought. 'Wow. She really _can't _agree that it would be fun to help'"

"Y'know, lately I feel like that whenever Plutie says nice stuff, there's a reason behind it…" Neptune said from the top of her head.

"…Probably your imagination" I said.

"What's your brain loom weaving, lovely Nep Jr.?" she asked her little sister.

"P-Please, don't even bring me into this…" Nepgear tries to avoid the randomness.

"I'm going to continue to collect intel on my patrols. Compa, can you clean up here?" Iffy asked as she stands and readies herself.

"Yes, I'm the best sterilizer!" the sounds weird. With that as cue we all stand up and get ready ourselves.

"Let's do our best, everyone…!" Plutie cheered.


	103. Chapter 103

Chapter 103:

"*Sigh*… Never a dull moment…" I say.

"Neppy look, there's a lady there about to take off her clothes!"

"Oooh! You're right! And she has big boobies too!"

"Stop peaking at them! You two are like perverts!" Noire said as she tries to make those 2 work seriously.

In apartment building that I rented, the two are on the window staring at the outside world with binoculars on. Sitting on the end of the couch, I browse the muted television with anything that is interesting. Blanc is reading a book on the other end of the couch, while Vert is sitting quietly on the dining table having tea with Nepgear.

"…What are we doing here anyway?" Blanc asked.

"We're on a stake out mission" I answered, turning off the television.

If you're asking where we are, we're in Eden. More specifically, in an apartment building that is ideal to watch what is going on outside of their Basilicom. You could say that we can use this apartment building to snipe all of the guards on the guard towers around the Basilicom.

"I would like to know why are we doing a stake out mission?" Vert asked.

"Well for the most part, we can learn something in just looking at them"

"I bet you've been doing this for the last 10 years" Noire said.

"Maybe. But it gets boring so sometimes I kidnap a dude and ask directly…" and some of them if not most, gets to go to cross the river.

"…Is there anything that you've learned, Big Brother"

"Not a whole much. I do know the layout of the Basilicom and their security..."

"Then why don't we infiltrate inside?" Vert asked.

"The problem is, security is too tight... that it'd be difficult or for the most part near impossible…"

"…How bad is it?" Blanc asked.

"So bad. I'm going to say that every nook and cranny of that place will set off the alarm" we're talking about windows &amp; doors having 3 stage locks and alarms. And everywhere there are cameras protected with bulletproof, ecm proof and other proofing shit. Plus of the matter, the security room is done underground which can only be accessed via the 4th floor which has an elevator going straight down.

"That's why info gathering is slow"

"Didn't you said that you asked questions on somebody?" Noire asked.

"Yeah, I did. The real goodie part is, that they practically know nothing. So, yeah…"

"So… in other words, we are in a bind, correct?" Vert said.

"I can't deny that…"

"…So what are we going to learn by doing this?"

"Well, for the most part, I want to see if the rounds of the guards on the Basilicom have changed" it's vital that if you want to plan an infiltration, you know the rounds of the guards. Like what time do they eat, and what time do they change shifts.

"What else did you learn, Big Brother?" Nepgear asked.

"Hmm… Let's see…" there is a lot of unsorted data stored inside my head. Maybe this could be a good opportunity organize them.

"For one thing, Mr. Badd is making sure that, politically, Eden is stable enough" out of all the Seven he is the most politically knowledgeable of the bunch.

"Also, Anonydeath, Noire's #1 fan, is handling the technological security"

"What about that Rei Ryghts person?" Vert asked.

"Well, for one thing, I don't know if she _does _anything"

"…What do you mean?" Blanc wondered.

"There are rumors floating around Eden that Rei Ryghts almost does nothing but apologizes heavily to small mistakes, stutter like a broken record, and cry" I emphasize on that last part.

"That's um…" Nepgear has no words to say.

"…a very sad leader. I almost pity her…" I do too, Blanc.

"Is that all that you learned these past 10 years?" Noire asked me.

"Not all of it, but those are the general ideas without going too much into detail"

"Speaking of 10 years, hasn't anyone noticed that Jared hasn't aged a day…" Vert said.

"…" shit Vert! I was keeping quiet about that!

"Nepu?"

"Eeh?" the two at the window with binoculars still on their eyeballs turns and looks at me.

"Now that you mention it… he really hasn't changed…" Nepgear scans my face.

"C'mon, people. It's a normal trait of a passerby to keep up with appearances" I make excuses.

"…I don't think I've heard of a passerby that doesn't age" Blanc said.

"Says someone who hasn't aged at all" double meaning sentence.

"We're goddesses so it's only logical. But you on the other hand…" Noire, please don't put me on the spot.

"Geez, haven't you guys already know…!" Neptune peels off the binoculars on her eyes. And puts both hands her hips triumphant over something she is about to say.

"What?"

"Jared has discovered the fountain of youth!" she pumps her fist.

"Hoooh! Neppy's so smart!" Plutie claps her hands.

"…!" so close… so very close…! Dammit, sometimes the most random people can nail the biggest mysteries.

"…That is possible…" don't patronize her Blanc!

"Oh, the fountain of youth. If I have that I might be able to regain my beauty for eternity…" Vert, you're already a goddess so that desire is invalid.

"I see. Big Brother truly is an amazing person" I know, Nepgear. But please don't recognize me because of something like that!

"Let's see. He fought 5 of us last time, recovered in a day after that fight 10 years ago, and doesn't age… it's kinda like he's…!"

"…Kh!" I overclock my brain instantly.

Dammit, one more word from Noire and I'm going to be exposed. Think Jared, think! What do I need to do to stop her. This topic won't end unless I do something and they forget all about it. First, I need a distraction to stop her from thinking, next I need a convenient event to happen make them all forget and get swept by the flow. Third, avoid the topic of skin, age, maturity, and time.

The flow chart seems good but I don't have anything to make it all work. Looking around this shabby looking apartment, I can't find anything that would distract her. I could use my 'eyes' but I don't want her to get scared of me. And it would too suspicious.

So what to do? What now? No, wait. Our original goal here was to watch what those guards are doing. So if I claim that their actions are different than last time… Hmm… Let's run a scenario… So I plug this algorithm here… press f5... waiting for it to compile.

*ERROR!*

Dammit! I forgot to enclose it in a try-catch! Well that's not going to work anyway. So what do I need to do, dammit!? Think me! Think! I really don't want to be exposed right now. Or at all, if heaven agrees. Now think, think. Is there anyway…!

"…im…" she's already starting with the first syllable!

Don't speak so fast, Noire! Fuck, I'm sweating buckets here. Not a good sign. Give me time dammit! Don't make me do something you don't like Noire! Huh? Wait, that's it! Sorry girl, I know that we're friends and all, but I've got to do this. Don't take it personally, I hope.

"Noire… you've got a bit of a mustache on you…"

"Eh?" she stops talking. Good…

"At this distance no one would notice. But since I'm a passerby with quality eyes, I can see some small strands beginning to grow"

"N-No way!" she covers her mouth. Trying to hide the fact. Which is a bluff by the way.

"It's quite true that when you shave it, it would grow back thicker so I advice you to pull it out rather than shave it…"

"Eh, Noire's having a hair problem? That means that Noire will be the next Mr. Suave!" Good job, Neptune! You being my fiancée, isn't for show after all! And that image of her having a mustache is disturbing.

"Guaaaah! No! I don't want that to happen!" Noire panics at the thought.

"Please calm down, Noire! It would be a long time before it happens!" nice follow-up Nepgear!

"I don't care! I don't want it to happen!" she screams. Not letting the image of herself having a mustache escape her head.

"Eh? Noirey is going to have a mustache… Hmmm…" Plutie imagines Noire as such.

"…Uuuuh…" and she felt heartbroken afterwards.

"Gh!" for Noire, lightning must've struck on her.

"Ah… ah…"

*THUD!*

Completely shaken. She falls on her knees, as though her soul has been sucked out of her.

Phew, I got out of that one safe.


	104. Chapter 104

Chapter 104:

"Gaaah!" for no random reason, like it ever needs one anyway, Neptune shouts as though a paradigm shift have occurred inside her. Since it was silent earlier, everyone steps back for a tad before realizing that was only just her. The elevator rises indifferently to our floor still.

We're coming back home, since we learned nothing new today on our stake out mission. Of course, I was expecting something to happen but I decided that I should give up and move on. Plus, I haven't actually have a wink of sleep since last night. It's already 4:30 so I could probably steal some sleep before dinner.

"Goodness! Wh-Why did you shoot up of your chair like a rocket?" the shocked Negear asks.

"Ah, sorry. I just thought that we just activated 'the pattern'"

"The… pattern…?" Plutie is confused.

"What? The pattern where... Oh... oh… _that_ pattern…" I hammer my fist on my palm on my realization as well.

"Yep! Whenever the scene starts and we're returning to the Basilicom, some bad mojo goes down" Neptune explains.

"…I think your word choices need some work" Blanc said.

"Can you stop breaking the fourth wall for _one_ scene?" Noire is still probably pissed at earlier.

"I agree. If you keep trying to guess where the story will go, it becomes less fun for the readers" that's… a pretty solid point Vert.

"Ooh, I see. I'll be a cautious canoe and paddle carefully from now on"

*TING!*

"On that note, here we are…" Nepgear said as the elevator doors opened.

"We're home!" Plutie said as we all exit the elevator.

"Oh, everyone! It's terrible! ((=￣□ ￣ =;),)" mini-Histy came zooming in.

"Something terrible is happening!" even Compa is doing it.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…" if I made a bet earlier that would have been an easy 20 bucks. Oh well, that was foul anyway.

"Eh? What is it? Why are you all wearing such indifferent expressions? (￣□ ￣ ;)"

"Uh, that's my bad. I kind of said stuff that made the situation lose its urgency" Neptune apologizes. Well, anyone would notice it and lost its urgency.

"What is it this time?" Nepgear asked, moving forward this 'terrible' thing that is happening.

"They took her! They took Iffy away!" Compa practically screamed.

"Again?" I thought she learned, from me, techniques on how not to get kidnapped easily. And it was training during the time she was studying to get in the Guild. Well, I can't expect everything to go down smoothly.

"Uh-oh… Iffy…!?" Plutie is shocked. Again!

"Someone calling herself Arfoire left a voicemail with us just a short while ago. (;°Δ°)" oh, classy kidnapping pattern.

"She said that if we want IF returned safely, the CPUs must go to a specific place…" that could be a just a bluff. Hrm… voice mail, eh?

"Nepgear remember your 'incognito microphone find-a-ma-bob!' or something? Can it track voicemails?"

"My device, no. It can only track microphones not pre-recorded ones…"

"I see. Oh well… I'll just do it classy as well…" I approach the telephone beside the television. I take the handset and dial in operator.

"Ah, hello. May I ask as to where our recent voicemail was made at the time of the recording?"

"_Hold on one moment sir…_" from the other end of the call, I hear tapping of some kind. Most probably the keyboard.

"Arfoire, you say? Isn't she the one who kidnapped IF way back in the day?" Vert asked.

"Yeah, she is. The one that almost has her life drained out of her…" I answer while I wait for the operator to answer me.

"She hasn't learned her lesson even after being beaten within an inch of her life?" she probably forgot that day that ever happened, Noire. Traumas do wonders to your brain and body.

"I see… That bitch took Iffy again…" the air feels cold. What's more important is, Plutie had just cursed! Dammit, Blanc and I are going to lose our identity!

"Yikes, that's not normal! Plutie, it's way too early to flip the psycho switch!" Neptune is panicking while all her hair is standing up.

"Please, please, please calm down for us!" of course, the little sister is as well.

"…What're you going to do?" Blanc asks the… ugh, I'll just facepalm.

"It's obvious, obviously! We'll rescue her lickety-spit! Iffy's in a pinch, after all"

"I'm certain it's a trap" Nepgear adds.

"Yeah. Rushing in there is going to get you killed" Noire said strategically.

"That's very rude! Are you saying you won't help Iffy!?" Compa is mad.

"That isn't it. We merely need to prepare for the worst" Vert reassures her.

"Instead of running our mouths, we need to use our energy to go save her…!" and Plutie is really, _really _angry.

"Yes!" everyone stands up straight.

"That was a wonderful display of taking control, Plutia" Histy compliments.

"Everyone is very well-trained" more like everyone is very well-scared, Compa.

"_Hello, sir?_"

"Ah, Yes. Have you found out where it was recorded?" I ask the operator. Not minding the personification of death and others staring at me.

"_Yes. It's by the mountains. The caller must have used a phone"_

_"_I see… Can you tell me where exactly it is? Coordinates is fine by me…_"_

"_It's 15° 10' 0" North, 73° 56' 0" East_" that's Cavelossim.

"Thank you very much. Consider yourself a savior of a kidnapped girl…"

"_Wha-?_" I place the headset back to where it belong.

"We'll be going now. You two are forbidden from getting kidnapped, or else" that's a pretty, not-well-reasoned restriction.

"Understood"

"Okay"

* * *

"…Whoa… almost lost my balance…" I land on a branch. The branch swayed a bit, but it didn't show signs of braking.

All of us are in the forest, heading to where Cavelossium is. Or, for you guys to understand, to where the voicemail was recorded. There is a high chance, since the operator said that the caller used a cellphone, that Arfoire recorded it while near the hostage. Seeing as she is an amateur in the kidnapping department, I'm pretty sure she is near Iffy.

Taking out my phone from my pocket, I press 1 and it started ringing Neptune's phone.

"_Hello, you've entered Nep service! Can you see Iffy from there?_"

"Nope. We are a few ways before our destination. Just keep going straight from there…"

"_Okay! And…" _she lowers her voice.

"_…let's get Iffy before anything happens_"

Translation: Hurry up before Plutie makes us all running for the hills! Dark creepy things are coming out of her skin!

"Right. Let's avoid anything bad …"

Translation: I know. I don't want to feel her wrath either. And the fuck!?

*BEEP!*

Jumping from tree to tree, okay you can classify me as a monkey now, I check my internal geographical map every now and then. I do have so many internals that one could mistake me as a computer. But I'm a passerby not as such.

I land on a Y split. I look up and see that this tree would provide me a good spot to look around. Feeling the trunk to see if it's strong enough. I launch myself and climb to the top with speed. The breeze welcomes me as I reach the top. I look around the forest, I can't seem to find anything of worth.

"Damn… And I'm not that far either…" at this distance from the goal. I should see them now. Damn operators.

I jump down from the top, I let myself fall until I see a branch strong enough to catch me. I grab a hold of it and physics allowed me to be spun with it as its center. I let myself gather intertia before letting go, catapulting me to another tree.

Upon landing on a tree's Y split, I quickly move to its branch sticking out from another tree. I jump and land on a branch. I jump to a series of branches before catching one and started swinging to my mark. Upon catching a branch, I swing myself off of it, without letting inert inertia disappear. I plant my feet on a trunk of a tree, and take 3 steps upwards. I jump at the 3rd step and catch a hole on the trunk. Readjusting my feet, I observe my area once more.

"Now, where the heck are you, Iffy?" in this forest of no monster encounters, I'm starting to worry that no one is actually here. I'm already this deep in the forest, and there's nothing I see other than still more trees.

"Hrm… Okay, maybe I should go down…" I jump down from the tree and landing, I roll on the ground, to avoid any more bones breaking.

"Okay… now where to…" I take a step following my internal map.

*CRACK!*

"Hm?" it seems I stepped on something. Removing my foot, I see the object that stepped on. It was an electronic device between the leaves.

"It's Iffy's cellphone…" or _one _of her cellphone.

If she remembered what I taught her, I'm going to bet that this was her way of leaving a trail for me to follow. But sacrificing your hard earned cellphones is a tad bit too much. I did tell her that buying too much cellphones is a pain to maintain and we only need one in our lives after all. But her motto on phones, that being too much is better than too little, biased her decision.

"I guess I'll buy her 9 replacements..." who knows, it might come out as useful as today.

* * *

"Found you..." having followed the phones I found Iffy and Arfoire, and also that oversized Rat. Also, I _followed _them, not pick them up. It'll be pain to carry all 9 of her phones.

Iffy's location is exactly where the coordinates indicate. Right now, I'm on a tree high above them. But not high enough so that I can't hear them. They're at a half constructed house made out of wood. It only has 2 walls adjacent to each other. Iffy is sitting on the corner, with her hands strapped above her head on a wooden beam. I have already contacted the girls and are probably here after a few more seconds.

"Iffy!"

"Oh, Iffy…!"

Hearing 2 girls shouting in worry, the rest of the cast emerges in front of them.

"Nep! Lady Plutia!" Iffy shouted their names, indicating that she's safe.

"Whenever this situation comes up, IF and Compa never call out my name. I'm so jealous…" oh, Nepgear is having her moments again.

*BRRR!* *BRRR!*

"Hm?" taking my phone from my pocket I see that I've received a message. Let's see…

"_Nepgear gained the 'Jealous' Affinity!_" hrm… I better forward this to her.

"Hm? My phone?" Nepgear pulled out her unusual phone that looks like a handheld game console, and peers through the screen.

"Goodness! Another one of those useless things…"

"Now's not the time for the stupid stuff!" Noire tells.

"I'm sorry, but those messages just pop up and I can't do anything to stop them…" isn't it practically your fault?

"…These sisters are personifications of the double facepalm" I can't deny that, Blanc.

"I see you've yet to learn fear, CPUs. I'll praise you for that" Arfoire is sarcastic.

"Ugh… Facing all of 'em like this kinda stomps my conviction into the dirt, chu…" the Rat is shaking.

"Okay, we're here. Give Iffy back!" Neptune demands.

"We cannot guarantee your safety if you fail to comply" and that's a literal threat from Vert.

"Hmhmhmm… Ahahahaha! It's just as I said!" no, no. Arfoire. It seems your statement earlier seems to be point back at you.

"The CPUs intend to ignore the hostage's presence and do something horrible to me!"

"I don't care what happens to me, so long as they take care of you…" you know, that statement of yours will bite you back Iffy. I'll pray for your heart.

"…You're both wrong, actually" Blanc tells them, a chill is running down my spine.

"Something horrible…? That'd be Plutie, right?" yes, she is, Neptune.

"What?" Arfoire feels the chill as well. Okay time to move…

"Lady Plutia…?" Iffy's voice became frail.

"Hahaha… Arfoire, was it? I beat you like a wild dog and you still wanna be naughty…?" the cold words of Plutie leeks out of her mouth.

"Eep! No… no no no no no no… Eh…?" trauma is slowly returning to her.

"Chu-Chu-Chu! Where did… Where did my resolve go!?"

"What!? Why is my body paralyzed and shaking uncontrollably?" Arfoire's body seems to have remembered that day.

"Woaah! Worked like a charm!" Neptune is surprised by how effective it is.

"It's also traumatizing the hostage, but oh well" I'm working on it, Noire.

"I'm sorry, but… This side of Plutia frightens me too…" my little-sister-in-law to-be trembles.

"Grrrrr…! What is this sense of dread? Why am I unable to stop shaking?" I kinda feel sorry for her now. Oh well…

"Hoo… My gawd you're getting heavy, you know…" I tell Iffy as I hoist her up and walk casually to the group.

"That's not nice, you know!" she lightly hits me.

"D-Dammit…!" Arfoire tries to give chase, but her trembling body doesn't allow her.

"Chuuu! What're you doing!?" even the rat isn't keen on retrieving the hostage.

"I can't stop shaking! There's nothing I can do! Damn, to think that I would feel such fear…"

"Thanks Jared, for saving me again" she thanked.

"No problem. Gotta take care of our problem child after all…" I put her down on her feet.

"I'm glad you're okay, Iffy" Neptune runs over to her and gave her a hug.

"Yeah. Lady Plutia, tha-…" and as Iffy is about to thank this one person… her face became as white as a radish.

"I'm so happy you're back, Iffy. Come into my arms…" Um… Plutie is making a very… disturbing… face.

"Hiiiiii! Nononononononono…" Iffy hugs Neptune tightly, hiding from her trauma. We both pet her head.

"Plutia, you mustn't get any closer to IF!" Nepgear tells her.

"Eeeh…? Aren't I allowed to be happy to see her again…?" and look, her face is back to normal.

"…Her personalities are definitely blending together"

"This might be her true personality, in all honesty" Vert adds to Blanc's thought. So my prediction in chapter 46 is becoming true…

"You've lost your hostage" Noire said in a tone of triumph.

"Get ready, mascara lady! Nothing's gonna stop Plutie this time!" mascara lady… haha, that's a good one.

"Hehehehe… Awww… Arfoire…" and Plutie is back into killing mode as she walks. The air around her is cold as ice. I swear, I have the most _wonderful _friends around me. Did I just made a self-pity sentence? Yes, I did. I'll facepalm at that.

"D-Dammit, I can't move… Will I really die without a fight…?" don't we all die without a fight?

"This is quite a pickle. No choice, I guess. Chu" the rat steps forward, shielding Arfoire. Oh my…

"You can't fight like that. I'll give you enough time to get away from here. Chu" um… is my ears lying to me!?

"How dare you mock me, rat…! I won't lose to a CPU…!"

"You gotta learn whan a boast will just sound pathetic, chu. Live to fight another day, chu!" holy shit, they're not lying!

"What…? Why would you do this for me?"

"Even the most twisted and evil organizations believe in the power of friendship!" shit. This too much, this self-sacrificing approach is both, hypocrite, and just too much for me!

"Tch… Don't expect me to thank you! We'll meet again!"

*BANG!*

And Arfoire flies away…

"She's outta here. Sorry to have kept you waiting" the rat stand in front of us. Eyes full of bravery.

"I'll be your opponent… The awesome mascot, Pirachu!" okay, that pose was unnecessary.

"Whoa… Well played, rat mouse thing" Neptune commends.

"This is got to be the most amazing rat I've ever seen…" and of all the rats I've encountered he doesn't look too pathetic to look at either.

"…He's our enemy, but all I can think is, 'That'll do, rat. That'll do'" Blanc says her thoughts.

"H-How could I get misty-eyed over the mention of friendship?"

"Here you go, Noire. Use my handkerchief" Nepgear hands it over to her.

"I don't feel like fighting after that scene" aren't we all, Vert.

"C'mon, we're still mortal enemies, chu. I don't need no sympathy, chu!" and he's acting tough too! Dammit Pirachu, don't act cool! You're making this whole build-up to the battle worthless!

"Mister Rat…" Plutie speaks in a 'loving' tone.

"Yeah? What'chu want, huh!? Bring it on, chu! Bring it from all sides, chu!" he shadow boxes.

But Plutie transforms…

" 'We've been apart for so long that you've forgotten how to fear me. I'll give you a refresher course' "

"Wait, what? That's weird. I didn't expect things to go in this direction…" nor did we, rat.

"Uh, if that's what Sadie says, we can't really do anything about it, bub. Sorry" Neptune apologizes before transforming. I don't see the need.

"Yes. I thought it would have been fine to let him walk" Vert sadly says before everyone transforms as well. Again, I don't see the need.

" 'Well, this was his choic. He has to face the consequences. We can't let him go now' " Neptune justifies her actions.

" 'True. We have a lot of pent-up stress get out of our system, after all' " Noire adds. Well, I can't deny that.

" 'Sorry, but you're going to be our punching bag until we get all our stress out' " Blanc cracks her fists.

"What? What!?" the rat panics. He trembles on the spot.

"Iffy, hide and block your ears, alright?" I tell Iffy.

"M-m-mhm!" she runs off.

" 'As a show of respect for your display of masculinity, I will not hold back!' " Vert summons her spear.

" 'Then, me too. If I have to do this, I'll give it my all!' " and Nepger is again being swept with the flow of things.

"Uh… Can't we all calm down a little bit?"

"Sorry rat, We can't…" I do some simple warmups. Also, he forgot how to fear me as well. But I'll let Plutie handle that.

"Look, you got it all wrong. I mean, six CPUs and their dog are crowding around a cute little rodent…"

" 'Oops. You really have forgotten...' " the madam smiles, sadistically. She brings out her whip-sword and raise it over her head.

" 'I told you long ago that you will refer to me as Madam Goddess!' "

*CRACK!*


	105. Chapter 105

Chapter 105:

"…Mister mouse…" our nurse –in-training called softly.

"…Mister mouse…"

The time: 6:45.

After relieving some pent up stress, we retreated back into the safety of Planeptower with a rat. I had to drag the rat by the vines as we walk towards here. I swear that something was slowly emerging from my sadistic heart. I guess, I was becoming the madam. While I did so, the citizen's gave us a strange look and I gave them a look saying: 'that this is only just a toy' and they ignored us afterwards.

Reaching our home, I wanted to tie him up at the ceiling but our nurse-in-training said that we should all help someone in need. She also argued of the hypocrite's oath that I taught her. Since my parenting instincts got the better of me, to the point of having tears in my eyes, I let our nurse-to-be do her thing. I swear kids these days are growing up so fast…

Now the rat, covered in bandages in the usual 'Compa style', I swear no matter which version they all act the same, is probably enjoying Compa's lap as we all, except for one traumatized person, watch over her.

"...Chu? I'm alive…?" unfortunately rat, you are.

"Are you awake now? That's a relief…" Compa heaves a sigh.

"That is… the angel's voice? Th-There really is an angel, Chu!?" he looks at the ceiling as though thanking the heaven's.

"Are you feeling okay? He seems a little disorientatered. You all went too far!" she blames us for the rat's near death experience.

"Don't yell at me! It was greater than or equal to 90% Plutie!" Neptune defends herself.

"What she said" I also defend myself.

"Even after he was passed out, she whipped his unmoving body for hours…" Nepgear can't seem to shake off the feeling of fear she had earlier.

"Huuuuuuuh? Nuh-uh,,, I went easy on him…" Plutie is acting innocently.

"When I listen to IF, I cannot in good conscience believe you"

"No Lady Plutia, that looks painful, it hurst watching, no more, I'm scared, stop, no… no…" Iffy hiding in her usual room, which is mini-Histy's, speaks in mantra as though summoning something.

"…She acts tough, but she's pretty weak, mentally" Blanc said.

"…I feel like I'm a bad parent now…" I did try to raise her to get her over her trauma. But her heart must have cracked since that day.

"There, there…" Neptune, having listened, pets my head.

"I'm worried about Iffy too, but right now Mister Mouse needs all my mad nursing skills!" nurse mode Compa activated.

"How are you feeeeeling? I'm not the best in my class, but I did my best to care for you" she returns her attention to the rodent.

"Chu… Wh-What is your name, chu…?"

"My name? Why, my name is Compa. It's lovely to meet you!" she shows her a smile.

"Compa… What a delicate and kind name, chu…" um… is the rat…

"Compa, you are… You are my guardian angel, chu! A living, breathing angel, chu!"

"…Can I kill him now? Please?" for some reason I want to blow up the rat's testicles.

"Huh? I feel like I've seen this character growth happen before" Nepgear says.

"At least he has the energy to speak now" Noire said.

"You have to know we didn't bring you here out of the kindness of our hearts"

"Compa… Compa… Compa…! Compa!" tch!

"Oh, please don't toss and turn! The bandages will rip and your wounds will reopen!" Compa advises.

"Listen up, rat!"

"Later, I'll talk later, chu…! Right now, I have this angel in front of me, so… later, chu…"

I think blood is beginning to boil, I don't know why. I guess my parenting instincts say that I have protect Compa from this vile vermin of a rodent. Or maybe make him eat rat poison. So, letting a bit of that take over me, I walk over to the rat, pick him up and…

"Chu?"

"…!" 'stare' at his shitty eyes.

"CHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!?" the rat squirms its way out my grip and retreated behind Compa. I retract my 'eyes'.

"I-I-I don't wa…!"

"Noire..." I bring to attention Noire.

"I'm sorry Plutia, but can you transform for me real quick?" okay, that works as well.

"Reeeeeeeaaaally…?" and she looks happy at that idea as well.

"NO! A-Anything but that, chu!"

"Stop stop stop stop!" Iffy's mantras are getting worst. She really needs some help.

"Wow. Noire, you're a shoe-in for a villain now. Using Plutie's other from as a big ol' threat…" Neptune compliments.

"Yeah, even didn't think of that…" I also compliment.

"I'm not acting like this because I want to! We don't have enough options to act picky right now!"

"Okay, okay… I get it, chumps. Whaddaya wanna ask me, chu?"

"…We would ask you. But let's leave the questions to him" Blanc said.

"Mhm, I agree. He has more questions to ask than us" Vert seconds the notion.

"Oh, thanks…" I think for awhile.

Well, we are planning on overturning a country. And it's not an easy job to do it either. There are too many variables to think about. For one, it would cause some of our citizen's to lose hope if Eden disappeared for no apparent reason. And since Eden offers every sunshine and buttercups to its people even I would get mad. Heck, it might start another 'let's make a country without goddesses' bullshit.

Going through this, one would expect to reveal that that country was formed by the Seven. And that the Seven did this and that. The problem however, that all forms of records that pertains to their misdeeds, have been wiped off clean. Technically speaking, those people that they 'hired' would take the blame since evidence does point to them but not their clients.

Of course, even revealing their future plans would also not benefit us in a way since, referencing my investigation, their info are air tight secured. Not even a letter from about their future plans have seen the light of day.

So with this, we have cancelled out 3 of the general ways to throw off Eden. And since the rat is willing to give us info, if he doesn't I'll throw him off of here, we have one more option that is doable to us right now.

"Then tell me how to beat Yellow Heart. She's strong, yes. But even giants have weaknesses" I said.

"Oh, you've realized that much. But you think I'm gonna go from rat to stool pigeon that easily, chu?" no. But I'll can make you fly to the other side if you want. No wait… I think I have an idea.

"Compa, please…" I tell her. She nods and…

"Mister Mouse, they're all in big trouble. Can't you help them? Pretty please?" she holds both of the rat's hands and asks nicely.

"I'm no expert on it, but that CPU is built to channel energy coming from another location, chu" and he turned a complete 180 just like that!

"That way, she can access powers far greater than a normal CPU. Or so that weird hacker says, chu" so we have a generator-esque to destroy. I do know that a protein, called IGF-1, is able increase the strength of mice. But genetic enhancements such as those, works well in animals as of now. For humans well not so much. Meaning…DID THAT HACKER FOUND A WAY!?

-Now I can have my Harvard award. Ehehe…

"Energy from some other place!? Tubular! It's not a big, bad beetleborg, but a CPUborg!" Neptune is excited on the idea.

"Can that be done, Histoire?" Nepgear asks.

"I am not sure. I do not know of any CPU that would allow such an invasive tampering of their body" mini-Histy answered.

"…So if we cut off that energy supply, she'll be only be as strong as a normal CPU?" Blanc asks for confirmation.

"How can she collect the energy? Is there some kind of apparatus that takes energy… cubes…?" Noire asks.

"You want me to rat out my comrades even more!? I can't stoop that low, chu!"

"Pretty please with acetaminophen on top?" that's paracetamol by the way. Medicine for colds and flu.

"You know about Anonydeath's weird inclinations already, but he has this R&amp;D place on Eden's border, chu" a place where he keeps his Noire figurines most probably.

"That's where he stores his energy-giving-out machine, chu" and Noire figurines.

"This rat's a real rat! The comedy almost writes itself!" Neptune's excitement intensifies.

"What're you getting worked up about?" Noire is perplexed.

"This is such useful information. If we can just destroy that machine, then…"

"…We can beath that banana-breasted tits-for-brains for good!" Vert and Blanc have flames growing in their background.

"And it's all thanks to Compa. You're the best!" Nepgear thanked.

"I'm glad my nursing abilities were of use to you" I believe she thanked you more on the begging part than that. Oh well…

"Aw man, I've succumbed to the coward's way and old out my comrades to the CPUs, chu..." you're a rat, no one would mind.

"Since I'm already this deep in my own grave, why stop there, chu? You wanna know anything else, chu?" a tempting offer.

"Yes, teach!" Plutie raises her hand.

"Mister Rat, I have heard that rodents don't like cheese that much, is that true?" she asks.

"Chu, chu!? I can't reveal one of the greatest secrets of all rodentkind!"

"Aww, Mister Mouse…!" Compa begged.

"There's no need to force him to tell us that" Noire is still perplexed.

"Awwwwww… But I've always wondered…" she seems sad that her voyage of discovery has been stopped.

"It's because cheese aren't sweet enough…" I start explaining.

"CHU!?"

"Really?" Plutie is shocked.

"Yeah, rodents like sweet stuff more like candy and chocolate. They don't like cheese because they aren't. The reason why they eat them, is because they are so freakin' hungry that they would eat whatever, even cheese…"

"Oooh! I feel like a bit smarter now!" Plutie clapped her hands on what she learned.

"Mhm! Leave all the universes greatest mysteries to Jared!" Neptune cheered.

"Now that we know what need to be done, let us go at once!" Vert got us all riled up. We all started walking back to the elevator.

"Okay. We'll be going now, Histy" Nepgear said.

"I see. Be careful out there" Histy waves.

"We'll get S-rank or whatever and be right back. Then we can cram pudding in our faces forever!" Neptune said cheerily.

"…The promise of pudding has triggered a specific event flag" Blanc mumbles.

"Okey-dokey, bye-bye…"

Entering the elevator, we press the 'G' button and it smoothley falls to the ground floor.

-When am I ever going to get some sleep?

* * *

_A/N: 'On my business card I am a corporate president, in my mind I am a game developer, in my heart I am a gamer' Satoru Iwata (1959-2015) _

_He will be missed by gamers around the world._


	106. Chapter 106

Chapter 106:

"I guess you could say this is that weird robot's kenkyushitsu…"

Translation: Laboratory.

"Why the random Japanese?" Vert asked Neptune.

"Don't sweat it. People who get it, get it"

We've arrived at the designated place. Thanks to Compa being so 'forceful' to him, we have arrived safely what seems like, yes you guessed it, a hidden laboratory in a cave. Why? Just why does it always involve caves? Great gawd… In any case, the front walls of this lab looks very, um, innovative. You know like those silver walls with designs that say they are futuristic.

-Also it's already night time.

"It looks like a research lab to me. I wonder if there's anything interesting here…" my little-sister-in-law- to-be has stars as eyes.

"Her eyes are kind of sparkling" that's what I've been saying, Blanc.

"Stop standing around and acting like idiots. We have to hurry. He might've noticed us already"

"He already have noticed us..." I can't shake off the feeling that someone is watching us anyway.

"Noire must be excited to see the man who set up cameras and took lots of videos of her again" Plutie concludes.

"We got the same idea. She must feel real goodie inside to meet again her secret admirer"

Plutie and I high-fived at that agreement.

"Sh-Shut up, that's not it! This is my opportunity to destroy all the footage!" oh really?

Walking up to the door, I look at it closely to confirm that there isn't any doorsknobs to speak off. Oh great, I'm dealing with some super hacker shit right here. Feeling the door with my hand, I found a line that would signifies the crack on the door. Gesturing Neptune to summon me a katana, I take the katana and pry open the door to the side.

"Mmmmmg!"

Slowly, the door pried open. It slides to the side while making audible clanking sounds. I'm probably breaking some gears inside. The futuristic door fights back trying to ease the pain that I'm making. And since I'm a passerby with a tickling sadistic heart, I force it to open regardless.

*CLANGK!*

*BAM!*

"Hoo! Damn…" hearing the sound of something that broke, the doors opens by itself. A poorly lit hallway greets us.

"Oooh! Hellooo~~!" Neptune runs over and greets.

"_Helloo~~!_" and the echo greeted back.

"Oooh! It greeted back!" Plutie, catching up to Neptune, is amazed.

"It would greet you back if you say your hello as well" I tell her.

"Hello~~!"

"_Hello~~!_"

"It greeted me back!" Plutie can be quite a funny simpleton.

"Geez, now he know that we're here! Can't you take things more seriously, geez!"

"…She really is excited to see her stalker…" Blanc concludes.

"Now, now. Since he got the door open for us, we should probably head inside…" Vert suggests trying to calm down our excited dishonest friend.

"Um… Big Brother…" Nepgear calls.

"Yeah?"

"…look, it would have been easier for you if you used this handy device called: Open-a-ma-bob!" Nepgear hands me a walky-talky like object. I stare at her…

"…" I facepalm. Why didn't you say that earlier? I have wonderful friends indeed.

The inside of this place isn't as mortifying as a cave, thank goodness. We let Noire and Vert lead the group, while us three, Nepgear, Neptune and I stay at the very back. The hall is poorly lit, there are patches of light here and there. Most probably due to that energy-giving-out thing. But even with poor sunlight, I don't see dust accumulating. A sign that he's been using this place for a quite a while.

"Um… Sis…" I stop to look at what Neptune is doing to warrant a call from her sister. Oh, not this again.

"…What are you doing?" she asks?

"Ummm… Well, ahahaha!" she scratches the back of her head.

Allow me to tell you, remember that slightly elevated platform that my wife-to-be stepped on, back in that top-down temple of sorts. You know, the one where we have to run away from a boulder. Yeah, that one. And she's doing it again, this time a big red button that is very tempting to press. This joke is getting to me, I tell you.

"Let me remind you again Neptune… That thing is filled with signs saying 'DON'T TOUCH THAT THING OR YOU WILL DIE!' bullshit, right?"

"Well, yeah… but…I wanna know whether it works or not!" and we were almost turned into flat paper because of that.

"Hey, we don't have time to do anything stupid!" Noire calls out.

"…Leave the button alone" Blanc said.

"Please? Can I press it? It won't take long!" she asks with begging eyes as she comes closer.

"No" who knows what sort of shit is going to happen to us if she does. For I know, I feel like I might get shot!

"Nepuu~~…" a sad Neptune.

"Oh, a button. Press!"

*PRESS!*

"Haa? Gh!" I cover my eyes with my arm.

"Goodness! It's so bright!"

Upon Plutie pressing on the button, a big white light suddenly appeared from the side of corridor. It's so freakin' bright, that my arms aren't enough to cover me. After a few seconds, the light slowly dims to a comfortable brightness. I remove my arms to see what in the heavens happened.

"Woooooooooow!" Nepgear is delighted.

Looking, it seems a secret room has been revealed. The room is well bright, and lit. Showing its insides like it was gifts from the heaven. The inside is filled with hardware's from all types. There are gears, power supplies, motherboards, engines, tanks, weapons and what the…!? Is that a 747 engine I see!?

"It's full of stuff!" Plutie is appalled.

"Not just stuff, it's full of the rarest stuff I've ever seen!" Nepgear runs off inside as though she was kid entering wonderland.

"Uh oh. Nep Jr. is on the _mood _again…" Neptune says.

"Let me guess, the mood where all she thinks about is robot stuff" I take a guess.

"Mhm. Even her big sis won't reach to her robot loving brain…" what a mood, indeed.

"Sounds sinister…" I shrug.

"…What's going on?"

"As you can see Blanc. Nepgear is having the time of her life…" I gesture to take a good look at the happy little sister-in-law to-be, who has a smile that extends from ear to ear.

"…Didn't I tell you that we shouldn't do stupid things?" Noire is pissed.

"Now, now. As Nepgear's big sister we should let her have some of her fun. Plus isn't it fortunate that no robot came chasing on us…"

*BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!*

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"Eeh…?"

Looking to where we came from, we stare as far as we could see. And in the distance, there is robot. It has a twin cannons point at us and has 6 legs. Most probably it's a spider tank. I haven't seen one before in my life, but I've got to say that looks absolutely cool. The kid in me is rising.

*BAM!*

It fires one of the twin cannons, and misses us by few short meters in front of us. It formed a big crater. Impressive firepower is impressive.

"Hrm? What's happening?" Nepgear peeks her head out in wonder.

-And we run.

*BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!*

*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*

"RUN FOR YOU FUCKIN' PUDDINGS!"

"NEEEPPPPUUUUUU!"

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"G-GOODNESS! WHY IS THERE A ROBOT CHASING US!? AND WHY AM I BEING CARRIED!?"

"SHUT IT! YOU'LL BITE YOUR TONGUE IF YOU TALK!" if you can guess, I'm carrying Nepgear over my shoulder.

"I'm not that fit running like this" then don't play games all day, Vert!

"LESS TALKING AND MORE RUNNING!"

*BANG!*

"KYAAAH!"

As we run through the hall. Our spider-tank give's chase as it fires. Fortunately, the bullets misses us by a mile. But it wouldn't take long before its accuracy greatly improves.

*BANG!*

"GOODNESS! THAT WAS CLOSE!" shouted my little sister-in-law to-be as a giant bullet pass us.

*BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!*

"NEPUU! IT'S GETTING CLOSER, YOU GUYS!" looking, it appears it is getting closer.

*BANG!* *BANG!*

"DAMMIT! I'M GETTING TIRED ALREADY!" Blanc shouts.

She summoned a giant hammer and quickly runs to the opposite direction. Our eyes follow her in awe, as though she is a hero trying to save us. I want to solute her but I have my hands full at the moment.

She swings her hammer hitting one of the bullets.

*CLASH!*

*CLASH!*

*BAM!*

*BAM!*

*GRRRRRRR!*

The bullet deflects back, hitting the second bullet that is coming after us. The second bullet hits our spider-robot and hit stops it on its tracks. The first bullet hits the ceiling above, due to it being hit again, and rumble falls down blocking the hallway.

"…*Sigh*… We could have just did that earlier…" she complains.

"But if we did that…" Neptune starts off the sentence.

"…we won't be able to go back at the entrance, right?" Plutie finishes.

"GAH!"

And an epic plan by Blanc failed.


	107. Chapter 107

Chapter 107:

"I think I hear something at that door we passed…" Neptune suddenly said.

"Hm?" I sharpen my ears and focus on the door. I still don't hear it.

"Maybe it's just the wind or whatever…" I conclude.

"…It's probably one of Neptune's wild self-awareness delusions..." Blanc said.

"Geez, let me tell you that detective Neptune is not going crazy!" she seems eager to prove us wrong.

"Okay, okay. Let's check it out…" it's not going to hurt us or anything, I hope.

Walking towards the door, it seems that it shut tight. I was about to gesture Neptune to summon me a sword. But I remembered Nepgear's 'Open-a-ma-bob!' device and decided to give it a debut.

"Okay Nepgear, give me that thing…"

"Oh, you mean Open-a-ma-bob? Here…" Nepgear procures the object from god-knows-where.

"You just have to put it on the door…"

"Alright. Sounds simple enough…" taking the device from her, I find that the back side is a double-sided taped. I place it gently on the door and step back, fearing that I might get shot if I stay too close.

Watching it, the device lights up a red LED. It probably detected that it's attached to a door. There's an orange LED that's blinking in random patterns beside it telling that it's doing some sort of techno gizmo whatnot. After a while it the LED's turned off and is replaced by a green one.

"And… that's it?" I thought it would do something epic. But I guess not…

"Now if we remove the device…" Nepgear removed the device and the door slides open naturally.

"See? This device is really useful when you lock yourself out of room!" she says her delight as though she was a proud mother of sorts.

"But it won't work on wooden doors though…" an imperfect device!

Entering the room that had just been conveniently opened. The room is decorated with so many monitors and devices all set up on the sides and walls. There are terminals filling the each side of the room. There is also a central terminal with 9 monitors. 5 of which are placed side by side while 2 are placed on top of one another of the central monitor and the last 2 are placed on top of the ends. And at the back of the terminal is a big engine like thing.

The light all the terminals emit is enough to light up everything in this room, even though it already has its own source of light. We all step in, taking it all in. We look around and found that there isn't a soul to find in here.

"Did you really hear something?" Vert asked Neptune.

"Sure did! It was like some kind of honeymooner's spat!" the hell is that description?

"Someone spit? Hey, who spit on Mister Honeymooner?"

"No Plutie, no one spit on Mister Honeymooner" I clear the misunderstanding that it currently inside her head.

"This sounds like a phrase that Irise Heart would love to twist around…" Nepgear said. Sounds like you are getting used to her.

"…There's a big machine over there" I noticed it already, Blanc.

"And here they come!"

A 'maiden's' voice resonates. From behind the central terminal out came a pink robot with glowing green designs that Noire knows and loves. I'll still call this guy robot since… well… its gender is… questionable, to say the least.

"Found you. Been a while, creeper" see? Noire just loves this robot's guts.

"Oopsies! I've been found!" the robot holds its face with both hands and wiggles as though it was orgasmic. That is disturbing.

"Don't be like that, Noire, honey. You can use my name with me… Ah-non-ee-death!"

"Like I care what your name is!" and it's the reason why you're not making any new friends whatsoever.

"As stubborn as ever…" agreed.

"Either way, you've come too fast. Boys don't like girls who rush, my darling Noire" not really. I kinda like it if the girl asks for it. Saves me the trouble.

"Huh? Girls that are fast…? A-Are you an idiot!" Noire has quite the imagination.

"Huweeeh… Why is Noire's face all red…?" Plutie wondered.

"I'm not really sure…" Nepgear is so innocent.

"Who she was reminded of the time she ran a race against some guys and she smoked 'em all!" no, that's not it Neptune.

"I wonder if that's really it. Whatever it is, I'm clueless" Vert actually gets it.

"Well, I'm pretty sure it doesn't involve anything below *ehem!* the *cough!* b*cough!*elt*ehem!* *choke!*…" I said.

"…Secret perv" Blanc says.

"L-L-L-L-L-L-LEAVE ME ALONE!" she screams with an even redder face.

"Noire! Want to beat up these mean brats together?" the robot asks.

"Yeah, with our combined power, we could… Wait, no! No way!" dammit, that so close!

"Nepu! Noire almost made a witty knee-slapper of a joke!" Neptune is flabbergasted.

"Whoa… That was surprising…" and so is Plutie.

"Well, that isn't her forte, so her delivery was a bit weak. But this is supposed to be a serious scene" Vert reminded us.

"It was? I thought we were here to tease Noire?" I cock my head in wonder.

"Ugh! Will you all knock it off already!?" the girl in question screams.

"Ahahahahaha! It's so fun to tease Noire! That's why I like her so very much…" hahaha… agreed robot.

"Well I hate you so very much!" Noire riposted.

"Noire is playing right into his hands, isn't she?" we already deduced that earlier Nepgear.

"I bet if you got one of those affinities like 'Easy to Tease' then this would've been you, sis" Neptune hypothetically said.

"Noire was born with this affinity, so I don't think Neppy Jr. could ever match her…" Plutie adds.

"So it's more a like an inert talent, huh" what nice talent to have.

"Well, I'm going to take that as a positive comment, if that's okay…" sure, why not, Nepgear.

"Stop talking nonsense! Who cares about me!?" everyone cares about you Noire.

"Calm down. If you get too angry, you'll pop a vein" Vert eases our dishonest friend.

"And grow wrinkles too…" I add.

"If you're worried about that, then hurry up and help me kill this creepazoid!"

"Aww, but this is our sweet reunion. Can't we enjoy our girl talk a bit more?" the robot asks.

"I have nothing to say to you! Not now! Not ever!" Noire is really harsh to her fans.

"…He's obviously not trying to start a fight. Is he stalling?" Blanc concludes. Which by the way, I noticed a long time ago. Neptune and I were just playing along since we're also stalling.

"Whoops. Looks like there is a level-headed girl among you" the robot praised. Well, it's not that long now anyway…

"…There are a lot of emotionally-charged people here, so someone like me is a necessity" um…

"Um…"

"Eh?"

"Hm?"

"ahahaha… Blanny is soooo silly…" all four of us have considered the thought to be more of pointing at her rather than us.

"…Thank you for all being so predictable" I kinda feel sorry now.

"Hmm. So that's how it is…" Noire glows…

" 'Then there's no more reason for me to play along with your little game!' " …and had transformed.

"Goodness, Noire's really into it now" Nepgear is really amazed.

"It's the fact that she' facing her biggest fan that she wants to try harder than anyone else…" such determination, I tell you.

"If you stop this machine and give yourself up, we may consider showing some leniency" Vert offers.

"While I know I couldn't possible win and your offer is quite attractive…" the robot considers.

"There's no way you'd just let me _and _my cute little machine go, is there?"

" 'NO!' " Noire firmly answered.

"Not a breath of hesitation…" just deal with it, robot.

"How unfortunate for you. Our negotiations are at an end" Vert said as she glows.

" 'Now we shall grind you and your little machine to dust, if you don't mind too terribly' " if it were me, I'd say not at all.

" 'You don't get to hog all the destruction! Leave enough for me!' " Blanc, having just transformed, said.

"Golly, this backfired. I'm a flagrantly piss-poor negotiator" you're just not good at it.

" 'Whatever Vert said, I didn't agree to. I was set on caving in your face from the very start!' " Noire is really showing some determination here.

" 'There were no other options' " Neptune, having just transformed, said.

"There was, but we just ignored it…" I said.

" 'The machine is no fun since it won't cry and beg for mercy, but you won't let me down, right?' " the madam, having just transformed as well, said. Of course she meant it sadistically as always.

"I doubt I can fulfill that expectation. I'm a bit of a sadism junkie. Hmm, such a pain…" the robot thinks of a way to get out of this.

"Oh, right! My adorable Nepgear, I thought to give you a neat little gift. A rigid-flexible PCB!" the robot offers

" 'Huh? Wow. Really!? How big is it? Who made it!? What year's model is it!?' " and Negpear, having just… okay you already guessed it, said in an excitement of a 2 year-old seeing candy.

" 'Nepgear?' " Noire waves her hand in front of Nepgear, she is unfazed.

" 'Neppy Jr…' " the madam calls to her, my little sister-in-law to-be had her skin hair stand up to the ends.

" 'U-Um, well, it's a nice gesture, but I have to refuse' "

"That was my last attempt. Well, even the most beautiful of fruits are destined to bruise…" that is true.

The robot summons 9 familiar blades that I haven't seen in a long time. It surrounds it vertically. Ready to defend its owner.

Giving my phone a quick check, I confirm the time. Bringing up the internal map I have in my brain. It would take 15 minutes on normal flight to get here from Eden. But since the one I'm waiting is not proficient in the art of flying, it might take longer. Given at how much time that we have stalled earlier, it's not going to be long now before the robot's back arrives.

"Neptune…"

" 'Right…' " on cue, Neptune summons me a katana that I know too well.

"Okay, ladies!" catching it before it start to fall, I take a stance that I know too well.

"Let's rock!"


	108. Chapter 108

Chapter 108:

*CLASH!*

" 'Tch, those things again…' "

"Now, now. You can't be picky…"

Noire's weapon clash against one of the 9 blades. The 9 blades moves both as an offense and defense. If I remember about our fight last time, which is 10 years ago. It seems that there is a limit to protecting the owner. It's small, since it's only half a foot. If the whole of the attack passes that, he's down.

*BANG!*

*CLASH!*

Neptune flies the moment Noire's attack were blocked. As she aims for the neck, one of the blades appear and block the attack.

Having followed closely earlier, the moment I reach their back, I jump and perform a simple side flip and swing my sword as land. The girl's backup giving me space.

*CLASH!*

"Oh, oh. It's the cutie…" the robot praises me.

I jump back, letting the Blanc fly under and attack low.

" 'Yaaaaaaah!' "

*CLASH!*

The blades once more intersect with Blanc's axe. The attack was heavy but the blades seem to be able to hold their own.

" '*Lick!*…Now it's my turn…' " the madam licks her lips.

*SWING!*

The madam swings her whip-sword at her. It extends far, letting all of the segments of her sword hit the robot. The swords readjusts, each pointing to every segment. They all move…

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

With surprising accuracy, all the blades collide with segments of the swords. Seeing it being pointless, the madam jerks her hand and the whip-sword returns to a sword upon command.

*BANG!*

From above, between Blanc and the robot, a beam appears. Nepgear had fired off her gun-sword. The light engulfs our field of view, I squint my eyes a bit. And just as quickly as the beam came, it quickly disappears, showing us the condition of our opponent.

" 'Even from this…?' "

The swords patterned out in a nonagon. Shielding our opponent from the beam.

"Now that warm up is done…"

*BANG!*

" 'Guh!' "

In between the gaps of our formation, the robot flies in. I instinctively turn, as I try to catch the robot. It seems its flying straight towards Noire.

*BANG!*

" 'Hah!' "

Vert intercepts, and thrusts her spear towards him (?).

*BANG!*

But she thrusts at nothing, the robot had dodged that attack. She has a moment of a shocked expression. The robot has reappeared behind Noire, sensing this she turns as she swings.

"Let's be bit rough to each other…" but the robot holds her check, caressing a beautiful piece of gem.

" 'Guh! You pervert!' "

*SCHNNNNG!*

Noire jumps back as she swings. One of the blades intercept it. Upon landing, Vert and Neptune comes flying from behind her. Both of race towards the robot, both at the speed of sound. They reach the robot in no time.

" 'Haaah!' "

*CLASH!*

Neptune swings her sword. But as expected, a sword appears guarding the robot from danger. She moves slightly to right, allowing Vert to thrust her spear at the robot's opening.

*CLASH*

2 blades flies from nowhere and intercepts the attack. Vert crouches as turns and swings her spear towards the robot's gut.

*CLASH!*

" 'Tch, these things are…!' "

" 'Sis!' "

*BANG!*

Nepgear flies in from the front as well, using the space in between the two. The tip of her gunsword is shining brilliantly. Nepgear fills the middle gap. She thrusts her gun-blade as she presses the trigger.

*BAM!*

"Oh… that's pretty neat…"

Nepgear attack wasn't a bullet fire. But rather it was a shockwave that could render organic matter flat as a pancake. It is so strong that the area behind the robot is unaffected, while the sides of it have cracks on them now.

The rest of the robot's blades have turn into a hexagon. Rendering any effect on the robot useless. Nepgear stands her ground and holds her weapon with both hands.

" 'Vert, get back!' " Neptune shouts and both of them jumps back.

*BANG!*

A second shockwave, and of course stronger. I feel as though I was sucked by it. The ground that had cracks are now scared with multiple faults. Nepgear uses that powerful shock to launch herself backwards. Certainly with that one could be flying for the heavens now.

"That's a pretty interesting upgrade my dear…" but it seems that the robot, with all of it's blades protecting their master, will make sure that it would take a while. I move…!

*BANG!*

" 'Haaaah!' "

" 'Huwaaaah!' "

Blanc, Noire and I rushes in from 3 different spots. Me on its left, Noire on right, and Blanc behind and high. The distance between me is about 5 meters a distance I can easily cover. Getting closer, I swing my swo…! Shit!

"Get back, Now!" I instantly order.

" 'What?' "

" 'Gh!' "

*SCHNG!*

At the last second, all 9 of its blades disappeared and reappeared thrusting on all directions, except for the ground. The three of us backed off, the moment they heard me. Or else that would have become a bloody triple kill.

"Aw… And I thought I got you…" the robot speaks casually.

" 'Ehehe…' "

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

The madam flies from high above and swings her whip-sword at him (?). The blades that are all sticking out, moves to intercept the attack. The rest of the blades returns to his (?) side. Safe-guarding the owner, until the madam lands and her whips retracts.

"Neptune!"

" 'Let's go!' "

Having Neptune and I regrouped, we both lunge ourselves. The 9 blades disappear around him. One of them shoots from thin air to our legs, Neptune and I take a step on opposite sides dodging it. Another one shoots above me, I duck down, avoiding it without recovering the first dodge. Damn I'm losing my balance…!

"Tch…!" I stop for a moment, and only just a moment to recalibrate myself.

"…Damn…!" and there are already blades sticking out of nowhere just waiting to have a good stabby time with my body.

Feeling a familiar back behind me, 2 blades comes rushing from below. We both jump avoiding them. But it proves fatal since the rest of his (?) blades are now thrusting themselves to us. Getting a little annoyed by them, still back to back, we both flip, and spin on axis, as we block the multitude of blades.

*CLASH* *CLASH* *CLASH* *CLASH*

We defend ourselves from the onslaught of blades thrusting in. Still maintaining our acrobatic form in midair.

*CLASH* *CLASH* *CLASH* *CLASH*

Each time one of them gets deflected, they disappear on the spot and reappears on another angle of attack.

*CLASH* *CLASH* *CLASH* *CLASH*

Feeling that our body is falling back towards the ground, we both flip over to the right orientation and land smoothly on the ground with grace. I think my brain got too much blood.

" 'Attacking head on get us anywhere…' " Neptune said.

"I guess…" I think of multiple ways to attack. The only thing I need is to get the whole of any attack inside the threshold. I can't make a makeshift grenade like last time, so I need to make sure all 9 blades are defending or attacking at the same time. Damn… that's near impossible for one person alone…

"9 attacks simultaneously… reminds me of Hercules…" nine attacks simultaneously, eh… The speed of sound… we're only 7 people… an axe, spear and gun blade…

"…Okay, I think this would work…"

" 'You have one?' " Neptune asks. Understanding the look in my eyes.

"And it would only work once… Ready?"

" 'Mhm!' " she nods.

"Everyone follow our lead!" I shout to all of them and they nod in response.

*BANG!*

Both of us lunged forward once more.

"Now then, let's try and end this… I'm not that equipped with fighting anyway…" we are as well…

Neptune comes first, she dives down from a series of blades that was coming after her. She crouches and twists her body, trying to target the robot's kidney.

*CLASH!*

"That won't work sweetie…"

" 'Will this work!?' "

"Wha…?"

Noire comes in not a second too late. She swings her sword targeting the left upper arm. A sword blocks the attack.

*CLASH!*

"Phew that was close… a second soo…!"

" 'Haaaah!' "

From behind, Blanc comes in on cue. She targets the collarbone of the robot.

*CLASH!*

" 'Tch!' "

Two swords sticks out from nowhere making her sure that her heavy attack won't reach the robot. That's 4…

*SWING!*

The madam swings her whip-sword at the robot from afar. Targeting the tip to its temple. A sword appears, stopping that attack short. The whip wraps around the blade. That's 5…

*BANG!*

From an angle, on the robots 1 o'clock Vert comes flying in. She thrusts her spear, targeting the robot's windpipe.

*CLASH!*

The attack was deflected downwards when a blade comes down from nowhere. She redirects her attack and points her spear towards the robot's heart. That's 7…

*CLASH!*

*BANG!*

" 'Haaaaah!' "

Nepgear flies from behind, she stays low on the ground. She swings her weapon at the robots thigh.

*CLASH!*

But the attack stops short. 6 inches before she could make a hit. That's 8…!

"…!"

Using that as my advantage. I jump high and reverse the hold of my sword. I point the sword on the robots forehead. I come down and swing the tip to him (?)…!

*CLASH!*

"That's a pretty coordinate attack… I really can't…!"

"Fuck you!"

Still in mid-air, I bring both legs together and swing it on the robot's face. He (?) tries to step back, but with two girls behind it, he (?) can't do much. So he stands his ground and gets hit anyways.

"Guh…!"

My feet hits his (?) robotic armored faced. That would hurt even with it on. He was thrown back and lands on the ground with his back. Feeling the rest of inertia on me on, I swing both legs up on the air and bring it down behind me as I land. Performing a simple backflip…

"And that's game…"


	109. Chapter 109

Chapter 109:

"Okay, okay… I surrender, I lose, I give, whatever" Anonydeath stands up and waves his (?) hands.

" 'You weren't trying at all…' " Noire said. Disappointed with the battle earlier. Well, the robot was on the defensive all the freakin' time.

"I already knew I would lose, so why bother? Besides, you all say such silly things"

" 'Well, if you can't get serious about fighting us, then maybe I can make you serious about crying' " the madam said.

"Impossible. I flip one internal mechanism and my pain receptors turn off, so I'd feel nothing" don't just fucking tamper with nociception.

" '…Such a boring genderless robot' " not really.

"Now, now! My heart is that of a pure maiden!" Anonydeath spreads raised both arms in a pose.

" 'Hey, shouldn't we bust up the machine instead of this prick?' " Blanc asked, pointing with her axe the generator like thing in front of the central terminal.

" 'It's a bit late for me to say, but it's really hard for me to destroy an innocent machine…' " Nepgear is hesitating.

"Nepgear, there is circuitry and wiring and programs you've never seen before in that machine" Anonydeath informed her.

"You'll never see them again if you break it. Isn't that a shame?" it would certainly is.

" 'S-Stop trying to temp me with your sweet words!' "

" 'Honestly. If that's how you really feel about it, get out of our way' " Neptune tells her.

" 'We'll destroy it together' " Vert suggests.

" 'I pass. Lifeless machines don't push my buttons, as it were' " the madam waves her hand signifying she doesn't want to.

" 'Whatever. I can destroy this on my own' " Blanc said. She thinks highly of her skills.

" 'D-Do your best, everyone…' " Nepgear cheered, closing her eyes.

" 'Then, three, two, o…!' "

"Stop your machinary abuse for a moment" I said before they charge in on the defenseless engine.

" 'Hm? What's the matter?' " Neptune asks.

"Let me destroy that thing…" I tell them.

" 'Haa? Why would you do it by yourself?' " Blanc asks.

"Because, machines are a man's passion" although I'm not that obsessed like my little sister-in-law to-be.

" 'What does it have to do with destroying this?' " Noire asks a follow-up.

"I'm not sounding like a prick, but… When it comes to machines, it's a man's job to see the breath of it's life. Women will not likely be able to understand our feelings…" I say 'will not likely' because some women can.

" 'Well he is passionate on it. Let's leave it to him' " Vert said, backing off her spear.

" '*Sigh*…Sometimes I just wonder, how I fell in love with you…' "

"Haha… That's makes two of us… let me borrow your sword for a bit…" Neptune tossed her purple futuristic katana at me. I catch it, reminiscing a bit, since I haven't used it in a while.

"Ha!" I lunge forward.

"Hoooo!" finish with the deed, I take the sweat off my forehead. I feel so alive after that. I check the time afterwards… it's almost time…

"Aww, you really did break my toy. Now I need to make a gorgeous excuse to the lovely Rei" Anonydeath sighed in the loss.

"…But… this is an interesting development, regardless…" I can hear you whispering robot.

* * *

" 'Heh. That was pretty cool' "

"Oh thanks Blanc. I do try my best" we both high-fived.

" 'Aww… You smashed it into such tiny pieces…' " Nepgear is sad…

" 'Nepgear, you can scrounge for any pieces to take home if you'd like' " Vert tells her.

" 'Can I really!?' " Nepgear has her hopes up.

" 'Let's not. If you give her the chance, the Basilicom will turn into scrap heap' " Neptune says. She's probably speaking from experience. Let's ask…

"Speaking from experience, I presume?" I ask.

" 'You wouldn't want to know…' " she warned. Now I'm interested.

" 'Aww, you're so strict with me in that form, Sis… If you weren't transformed, you'd let me…' " so she's spoiled huh… Where is that random affinity thing? I think this is a good time for 'Spoiled Affinity'.

" 'Really? I bet she'd say something dumb like. 'I always mix up the oil with chocolate syrup, you guys' ' " Blanc says, trying to project what Neptune would do.

" 'Hrmm… That's something I'd do…' " and Neptune accepts it as fact? Well, it does seem legit so why not.

" 'Your imitation was stunningly accurate, Blanc. You must have the heart of a thespian' " well, she does read books, Vert. So… yeah, she probably has one.

"The CPUs and dog are preoccupied with themselves, as expected… Time to… *sneak, sneak…*" I can hear you robot…

"Hey, our host is sneaking away…" we all turn to our robot friend.

" 'Don't think for a second you can sneak away with that gigantic body of yours' " Noire said to him in a matter of fact tone.

" 'Such an idiot' " the madam said.

"O-Oh! So it seems you spotted me. Ah-ha, ha, ha…" Anonydeath laughs.

"L-Look, you all accomplished your goal, so why not let a small fry like me get away…?"

"I would, but they'd disagree with me anyways…" I said.

" 'If we do that, he might just rebuild this machine' " Noire said to me.

"N-Not a chance. My pride would never allow me to create the same machine twice" no, that's a lie.

"Besides, making something that complex takes a lot of time and quite a bit of money"

"You can use Eden's taxes. Not like they'll notice…"

" 'Even if you get on your knees and swear you won't make one, that's not a reason enough to let you go' " you really do want to do him good huh, madam.

"A salient point. Wow. I'm screwed, aren't I?" more or less.

"Aww, what a tasteless fate… To think my tender, virgin existence ends like this…"

" 'Don't be gross. You _are _going to die here' " such a threat from Noire, as she brandishes her sword.

" 'Mmm, listen to Noire! She sounds like such a bad girl. I knew you were secretly a wild child…' " the madam is pleased.

" 'I don't want to hear that from you. Prepare yourself!' " Noire takes a stance and flies towards Anonydeath.

*BANG!*

"Yaaaaah! I was so ready for things to get more interesting!" the robot screamed.

*BAM!*

"PAPA!"

*CLASH!*

" 'Wha…?' "

The roof has been punched through, I can see the stars from how wide of a hole on the ceiling is. The stars twinkle as though spotlighting our new contender. She blocked Noire sword. Defending her 'Papa', from sudden death. Noire's sword were caught in between the golden gauntlet claws.

-I guess it's safe to use masculine pronouns now.

" 'Oh. Another one who has come too fast, as you said' " the madam redirects Anonydeath's words earlier.

" 'Yellow Heart…' " Neptune repeats the name.

"Hrm… I guess I was right…" I knew she'd come here.

"Don't be mean to my papa!" the girl bellows as she pushes Noire back.

"What a good girl… Too good! She has such good timing… She's such a darling angel!" her 'papa' praised. Wait, wait. I thought you're into Noire? When did you find the time to hook up to another girl?

"Hehehehe! Yay, compliments!" Yellow Heart is pleased with her good deed.

"How did you know I would be here? I didn't contact you…" ha?

"Um, I sensed that papa were in danger so I rushed over to check… And I was right!" his daughter answered honestly.

"…" I facepalm. I thought he contacted her, since it was the most sensible thing to do once you know you're being cornered, that's why I've been checking time. So the fact that he didn't contact her, really proves that she has, no offense, brains as udders. Well, at least the end result is what I thought it would be.

" 'What's the matter, Jared?' " my wife-to-be asked in concern.

"Nothing, Neptune…"

"Despite being as intelligent as moss, your animal instincts are unnaturally sharp" that's because as we get older, our animal instincts gets duller. So always think of a thousand reason why babies cry unexpectedly. They tell you something…

"Yay! More compliments!"

" 'Sorry to butt into your stupid conversation, but…' " Blanc interrupts.

" 'Are you familiar with the saying, 'Like moths to a flame'? ' " Vert asked.

"Moth? Flame? What're you talking about, granny?" whaaaaaaaaaaaaat!?

" 'Gra…!?' " Vert is shocked. Astonished. Apalled. As though a paradigm shift has occurred.

" 'Pfft…' "

" 'Granny… Pffft…!' " Noire and Neptune giggled respectively.

"…!" I try not laugh and keep a poker face. But I think my face is showing it anyways.

" 'S-Say that once more, I dare you! I will flip out and… and use foul language!' " Vert threatens.

" 'Goodness, I never thought Vert could be as scary as Plutia…' " Nepgear is getting scared by the development.

" 'Don't lump me in with her generation. I am a kind and young woman with a gentle heart' "

"Don't lie, madam…" I tell her.

"Papa, are they bad people? Should I take care of them?" the daughter asks her father, as he sits casually on the ground.

"Sure. Do as you like and don't think about holding back" Anonydeath allowed. Wait…

"He's allowing it?" with the generator-thing destroyed, she can't win a 7-on-one fight, judging by how I remembered her 10 years ago. Or maybe…

" 'What a horrid father. She has no chance of winning now and he knows it' " Neptune said, readying her sword after we exchanged weapons.

" 'We won't lose to her again. Are you sure this is okay?' " Nepgear asks out of the goodness of her heart.

"I don't care. I'll be able to see it with my own eyes…" …he's planning something. I overclock my brain.

" 'Huh? What kind of shit's bubbling out of your mouth now?' " Blanc asks.

" 'You're next. Don't think you can run away from us' " Noire reminds.

"Okay, okay, I get it. Of course, this is assuming you manage to beat her!"

" 'We will. I will put my entire body and soul into it. I'll jam my spear clean through her!' " Vert readies her spear once more.

" 'This doesn't give me the rush I want, but fine. I finally get to torture this wild child…' " the madam readies her whip-sword.

"I'll get rid of any bad people who are mean to my papa!" Yellow Heart takes a clumsy stance.

"Neptune…" I look at her as I called. She immediately understood…

" 'Mhm. I'll be careful…' " hearing that from her, I get ready myself.

"This is going to be a long night…!"


	110. Chapter 110

Chapter 110:

" 'Haaaa!' "

*CLASH!*

Neptune's sword was blocked. She came swooping down from the air like a hawk. The attack was heavy and Yellow Heart seems to be unfazed by it.

"…!"

With Neptune still in the air, I use this timing and attack from below. I reverse the hold of my sword and swing it to her gut.

*CLASH!*

*CLASH!*

She pushes back Neptune and blocked my attack. Her block still has life in it, but I can tell that this battle won't be like last time.

With Neptune on the ground now, she twists her body for a powerful swing. I do the same still with hold of my sword reversed.

"Haaaah!"

" 'Haaaah!' "

*CLASH!*

Yellow Heart blocked a powerful swing from both of us. The kinetic energy was enough to push her back. I see her twitch her eye a bit. Neptune and I side stepped letting Vert thrust her spear with all her might.

*BANG!*

"Gh! Haaaah!"

*BANG!*

Yellow Heart decided to charge in as well. She threw her fist, letting her golden-yellow claws on her gauntlet spearhead the attack

*CLASH!*

The tips of their weapons clash. Sparks fly from the intersection. Yellow Heart lowers her body, letting Vert pass overhead as she pass underneath. She stops herself and recovers a meter from where their weapons met.

" 'Hooyaaah!' "

From behind Yellow Heart, Blanc flies in ready to swing her axe towards her as she recovers. Yellow Heart, tries to swing her claw…

*SWING!* *CLING!* *CLING!* *CLING!*

"Eh?"

" 'That'd would stop you from doing something naughty while being punished…' "

"Gh!"

Right behind Blanc was the madam. She intended to catch stop the claw by catching it with her whip sword. Yellow Heart tries to pull away but she seems to be struggling in that aspect now. Her opponent is coming dangerously close, about to swing her weapon at her.

"Hah!"

She performs a forward side-flip as she swing her free claw to Blanc. Blanc readjusts and swings her axe at her.

*CLASH!*

Because of the flip, the whip-sword had been unwrapped and returns to the madam. Yellow Heart lands behind Blanc.

" 'Hah!' "

The moment, she lands, Noire swings her sword. Blanc swings her weapon as well, pinning down Yellow Heart. She raised both of her claws, and blocks the attack.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!*

Both weapons are stuck between the claws. She twists her wrists a little, locking them in this stance.

"…!"

Seeing an opening, I move on the front from and ready my sword for an uppercut. In this stance she might not do anything. I step in and swing my sword upward.

"Yaaah! "

*CLASH!*

" 'Gh!' "

" 'Tch!' "

"Damn…!"

She brings both arms down letting the 2 weapons clash against one another as well as my own. In this position, her upper body is open.

" 'Multiple Beam Launcher… Fire!' "

*BANG!*

A beam of light, painted in an array of colors, passes over me. I drop down and go prone while the girls fly away avoiding getting caught in it.

"Eh!?...!"

*CLASH!*

Yellow Heart, blocks with all her might using the gauntlet. She plants her feet firmly on the ground, but the force of the beam was too much for her and she was pushed back.

"Gh…_haa… haa… _Why…? …!?"

When the beam dies down, she huffs in air like mad. As though tired from the ordeal already. Well, I can't exactly blame her since she's being attacked from all sides. I look around and Anonydeath is just sitting there as though waiting for something to happen.

Yellow Heart bows down, avoiding a swing a from Vert's spear. Vert readjusts her spear and swing in low. Yellow Heart jumps back as she turns, facing Vert with conviction in her eyes.

*BANG!*

" 'Haah!' "

*CLASH!*

Neptune comes down from above, Yellow Heart blocks the attack. Due to the downward motion of both movements, inertia left Neptune's body crouching for a moment. She uses this moment and swings her claws to her.

*CLASH!*

"Sorry, that's my woman you're attacking…!"

I block Yellow Heart's attack. She seems to cringe for a bit as her attack her initial target.

"What's wrong? Feeling a bit tired…" I ask her, taunting her a bit.

"Gh! Gaaah!"

She swings her claw from underneath. Readgying my leg, I swing to her arm, countering her attack.

"Ga!"

Using momentum, and circular motion, I twist my body and use the same leg to perform back kick to her. She block it with her gauntlet, but she was pushed back. Her arms dangle lifelessly, it must be numb from both attacks right now. Using this opportunity, I rush in towards her and throw the sword as I do so.

"_haa… haa… _Gh…!"

She dodged it instinctively, but being tired jarred of her awareness. She realizes at the last second that I was close to her now, ready for fist strike. On reaction, she races her claw towards me. With my forward hand I draw a circle parrying her attack.

"Gh…!"

I feel no force from the said attack. Then, readying my palm I hit her gut.

"Gah…!"

She staggers backwards, clutching her stomach as though it was the most painful thing in the world. But she's still determined to fight, even though she knows she can't win anymore.

"Now…" I raise a hand…

*SNAP!*

*BANG!*

Upon snapping my fingers, Neptune and Vert comes flying from behind me. Getting to her faster than a bullet. Neptune comes to her first and swinger her sword at her.

*CLASH!*

Despite how tired she is right now, she's stil able to block. Must have been from pure instinct. Yellow Heart was lifted off the ground only for a tad, until Vert comes in and thrusts her spear pushing her up in the air.

*CLASH!*

*BANG!*

" 'Haaaaaa!' "

" 'Haaaaaa!' "

From both sides, Blanc and Noire flies in. They both uppercuts their weapons at her. Pushing her up in the air even further.

*CLASH!*

" 'Multiple Beam Launcher Fire!' "

*BANG!*

Nepgear's beam fires off from the ground. Since Yellow Heart's arms are still in form. She naturally blocks it. The beam pushed her up in the air, until she reached the ceiling, still pushing her through it.

"_haa… haa…!_"

Successfully able to stop the beam. She tries to gauge at us as to what to do. Sadly, that ain't happening…

" 'I got you…' "…see?

Her waist is wrapped by a peculiar whip-sword. The madam licks her lips as though telling us that she's going to have a good time. She pulls her in, and swings her around like a disposable toy. Or like a cowboy, setting up a catch. She raises her up in the air, and pulls her down.

*BAM!*

She bounces off the ground like a ragdoll. In mid-air, the sword unwraps itself and returns to the madam.

*THUD!*

" 'Owwy!' "

Landing on the ground, she instinctively clutches her body from the pain.

" 'We won…!' " Neptune said, catching her breath.

" 'Hmph. How anticlimactic. She was nothing special' " Noire says highly.

"That's because my plan worked…" I said, as I rotate my arm. Damn, that was a good workout.

"Aww, why? Why wasn't I strong? I always have so much energy, but this time I had none…" she asks herself.

"Oh, they destroyed the machine that fed you all that energy" her papa answered.

" 'Typical villains. You only go this far by underhanded means!' " Blanc accused.

"…"

" 'Hm? Jared…?' " Neptune calls out.

"Nothing to worry about…" I pet her head to reassure her. She's quite sharp. Well, she is my wife-to-be after all.

"Ugggh… My body feels funny…" Yellow Heart clutches her body even more, trying to hold something in.

" 'She cannot maintain her HDD form! Expose your form to the public to prove those breasts are fake!' " that's what you're concerned about Vert?

" 'Vert…' " Nepgear has no words for her.

" 'Hmhmhmm. I wonder what sort of adorable form she'll take. I'm looking forward to this' " the madam is excited.

"I'm sure she'll live up to your expectations…" what are you planning robot?

"Uggggghhh… Agggggh!"

Her body engulfed in light. So bright that we had to cover our eyes. Peeking in from between my fingers, her form shrinks and shrinks. As the light slowly recedes, her form slowly and slowly settles into that of a child. Her outline seems familiar…

"…!" my heart almost stops. I stare at the figure before me… no, the child before me.

"Bwaaah! What's going on? I'm all tiny now!"

" 'That voice… It can't be…!' " Neptune has her voice caught on her throat.

It was a short girl with strawberry blonde hair with large red hair bobbles and cerulean blue eyes. Her clothes consist of a one piece short jumpsuit with a bee-like design accompanied with star designs on the lower half and also on the sleeves.

" '…P-ko?' "


	111. Chapter 111

Chapter 111:

The world is exceptionally cruel. So cruel to all of us. In a blink of an eye, it would take everything away from us. Crushes our dreams and hopes to dust. Grind them as though destroying its very atoms. I've seen its cruelty. I've been a part of its cruelty. Just like how death takes people with no consideration of gender, time, title, rich or poor. The world will do so to its people as well. It doesn't give a damn…

And today, I've seen another example. To prove once more, to remind me of that unchangeable fact, that the world is cruel to all of us living under it.

" '…P-ko!?' "

Neptune's voice snapped me back to reality. That's right, the girl that we have been fighting just a moment ago. A fight that could have easily been bloody. The fact that we could've killed her. Someone dear to us that we could mistake her as our daughter. The fact that we have all tried to beat her to an inch of her life, that fact, weighs heavily on my heart.

"…Peashy…" I say her name. I can feel that my voice is getting colder…

"Huh?" the young girl looks around, as though she could've sworn she heard her name.

" 'N-No way…' " Nepgear's voice is in shock.

" 'What…kind of sick joke is this?' " and so is the madam's.

"Haha… hahaha… hahahahaha!"

*CLAP!* *CLAP!* *CLAP!* *CLAP!*

The sound of clapping makes me irritated. I can feel my 'eyes' emerging with each clap. Pushing me to do something I shouldn't in front of the girls.

"Now that's a marvelous expression! That's what I've waited to see!" Anonydeath laughs as he circles around towards the child.

"…!"

"Oh…g…!"

*CLANG!*

I run towards him with no hesitation at all. I try to fly my fist towards his sorry face but the flat side of a blade stops it. I 'stare' at him intently. My face isn't all the pleasing to look at now.

I remember that bloody scene. I remember that 'pile' that I made. I remember 'her'. I remember 'him'. Those scenes fills my head. Dumping killing intent into my heart. Peashy could have died from eating that CPU memory. She could have been one more casualty.

"You…" he stares back. I can see his clenched fist trying to hold it in. So even in that suit nothing is stopping my 'eyes' to make you feel like a little bitch. C'mon, stare at me straight on, I implore you.

"What's a P-ko?" the child asks innocently.

" 'It's your friggin' name! Did you forget it or something!?' "

"My name? Nuh-uh! My name's Yellow Heart!" the child said with glee as she sat up.

"Memory… Alteration… Gh…!" I drive my other fist towards him. But it got blocked as well.

*CLANG!*

"You did it, did you!? You son of a bitch!?" I 'glare' at him with all the malicious intent in the world.

"Well, c'mon… If she remembered all of you, she wouldn't want to fight you" he talks back his voice sounds strained.

" 'Hmm… You've forgotten me, then. Such a naughty little girl…' "

" 'Plutia, no! That is one line we can't let this game cross!' " I hear Nepgear stopping the madam out of panic.

" 'But I didn't do anything yet' "

" 'Whatever. Return her to us!' " Noire demands.

"Hmm, if that's what she wants, I guess I can't stop her" he said looking away from me.

"No! Papa said not to talk to strangers! I wanna be with him!" dammit! Dammit! I thought you that you little…!

"There you have it. Too bad, so sad…!"

*CLANG!*

"…_haa…haa…_" I 'glare' at him to the point that he'll see me as the devil himself. C'mon now, why don't you breakdown... I wanna see you scream…

" 'We just have to drag her ass home with us, right?' " Blanc suggested.

"But when she feels better, I bet she'll transform and wreck your precious home. That's not safe" kh! Dammit... And when she does, there's going to be war.

"Haaaa!" I fly my fist once more.

*CLANG!*

"You…!" fucking powerless as shit!

" 'P-ko… Have you really forgotten me…?' " I hear Neptune's voice, almost as though she is begging. As though begging her own daughter to remember her mother. I can't look back and comfort Neptune right now.

"Forget? Who are you?" Peashy asks so innocently. It hurts our hearts…

" 'Kh…' "

"Well you gotta know me! I'm your friendly neighborhood Neptuna!" Neptune's untransformed voice reaches my ears.

"Nep… tuna?"

"Yeah! That's what you called me for some reason!"

" 'Well done, Neppy. Hmm… If I punish her, maybe her memories of me would return' " the madam mumbles.

"That's right…! You called me Ploot!" Plutie's voice nudges the child's memories…

"Ploot? Neptuna? Nope, dunno either of you" and she still doesn't remember.

This is insane. Psychoactive drugs, beta-blocker such as propranolol, mainly targets a small amount of the memory within either the Episodic Memory, Non-conscious emotional memory, non-conscious procedural memory, Semantic Memory and the rest of the lot. It does not block all, as it may lose the identity of the person and the patient may forget how to breathe, endangering them.

In this case however, a large portion of her memory has been lost. She's a 7-year old, with 7 years of accumulated memory. It would take more than beta blockers to erase all of that. Whilst still remaining 'you', and not forgetting default motor functions.

"Hahaha! This is rich! To think I get a…!"

*CLANG!*

"Shut up trash…" you're forgetting your place…

"Gh…!"

" 'Even the stupidest hobbies in the word would be ashamed to learn that _you _enjoy them!' " Noire says.

"Why'd you forget me!? You mad!? I mean, you did say you weren't gonna talk to me anymore…" Neptune said.

"But I totally didn't mean it! I was upset and got all caught up in the moment…" I hear thumping on the ground. I guess she's kneeling down and apologizing to her.

"Come home, okaaaaaaay…? I'll make you another fun stuffed animal, Peashy…" Plutie begs.

"I even sewed up the one you ruined before…" and she did while small tears falls down on her face.

" 'Sis… Plutia…' " Nepgear has no words.

"Neptuna, Ploot! No! I dunno either of you! I dunno you or Compa or IF or anyone!" I look at Peashy, with my eyes back to normal, trying to peek using my peripheral vision. The drugs are wearing off?

"Oh, she just made a mistake and knew something she shouldn't! You know what that means!" Neptune noticed as well.

"She's remembering!?" Plutie is hopeful.

"Huh? Wh-Why did I say those names…? Gh…!" she holds her head in pain. These symptoms…!

"No way! I thought that would lock her memories for good!?" that?

"P-ko!"

"Peashy!" the two girls call out. Making sure their voices would reach the child's heart.

"Bwaaah, my head's spinning…!" she holds her head and kneels down on the floor. Tears are emerging from the corner of her eyes. If what she said is true, then… these symptoms are…

"Okay everyone, look at the big bad robot guy!" Anonydeath shouts. I turn back to him.

"You see. I just activated this lab's self-destruct sequence! It'll blow in one minute!" he shows us a compass type thing, with a screen displaying number counting down.

*BEEP!* *BEEP!* *BEEP!* *BEEP!* *BEEP!* *BEEP!*

Yellow lights flash around the place. I try to punch his sorry face behind that mask, but again it's stopped. Dammit…!

" 'What!? You cliché bastard, what the hell're you thinking!?' " Blanc said.

" 'That's right. Don't you realize that you will be caught in the blast?' "

"Well, I'll be heading down my secret passage ahead of you!" he runs.

"Hey, you bastard!"

*SCHING!* *SCHING!* *SCHING!* *SCHING!*

"Tch…! Dammit!" 4 blades comes out from above. I jump back avoiding them.

"Ah, Papa! Wait!" the two heads for a path that has been opened just now on the wall. I try to give chase but these blades are starting to piss me off!

"No, P-ko!"

"Neptune, no!"

*SCHING!*

"Gh!"

"Jared!"

Neptune tried to give chase, but a blade comes rushing in from nowhere. I step in front of her and got hit on the shoulder. My shoulder bleeds. I hold it to keep the blood from coming out.

"Now then… Bye-bye…" the robot says his goodbyes as the path is sealed up by the same wall.

"Aww… He closed it…!" Plutie runs trying to find a doorknob of a kind.

" 'Move it! I'll bust it open!' " Blanc offers her services.

" 'I'll help, too' " Nepgear says.

" 'There's no time for that!' " Vert reminds us all.

" 'She's right. He said we only have one minute. We need to get out of here _now!_' " Noire urges us all.

"But… But Peashy is…" Plutie tries to argue.

" 'We'll deal with that later. For now, we must escape!' "

"Gh! Go now! I'll catch up!" I ordered. As I run to the terminal and type on the keyboard as I check the monitor.

" 'Eh? What are you doing Big Brother!?' " Nepgear asks.

"I'm checking something! Damn…!" where… where…! I don't believe you're able to alter memories with electronic shit! No matter how much of a techno geek you are, shit!

" 'There's no time for that!' " Blanc shouts.

"There's also no time if you all just stand there! Now go!"

"But Jared…!"

"I'll be fine, Neptune…" I give her an eye to look at.

"…I'm still keeping that promise…" she has tears in her eyes. But I know she trusts me even if my plan is suicidal. Because we have a promise. And she knows I'm keeping it 'till she says stop.

"Mhm…! Don't go breaking your promise on me, you bully!"

" 'But Sis…!?' "

" 'No time to argue. Let's go! You, better come back in one piece!' " Norie said.

"Yeah, yeah… now go!"

The all turn to the door and run away. I can hear Neptune's steps are insecure. Why wouldn't she? To relieve her, I'll give her some pudding… But first things first… Confirming that no one is here through my instincts, and that they really have ran away…

"Don't kid me you sorry little shit!" I type in on the keyboard like mad. Finding anything related to Peashy's memory lost.

"…One minute my ass! A facility this big, you'll get caught in the blast regardless…" nothing here, nothing here…!"

I check every folder on the harddrive as well as the network drive. There are some files that are encrypted that I decrypt almost instantly. Most of them contain info that I was searching for in the last 10 years. But since we are already this far without them, I'm not going to bother. I search and search…

"Damn…!"

You can only block memories if we use conventional means. 'Locking' them in a sense. Even if you lock down 7 years worth of memories, and tell them that you're her father. The child will still be skeptic. Because conventional means will not allow you to lose the sense of self. So, in that sense, I can say that…

"…No way…" I stare at the screen. Face struck in pure horror…

"Hehehe…" I smile…

So that's why. If conventional means doesn't work. Then we can go for the alternative, a 'cheat' if you call it. A very effective formula. It hits the episodic memory specifically, it makes sure that the person will be in a blank state. Allowing you feed her anything it is. The formula will do the rest for the person recognize it as truth. Haha… I remember this… I used this formula a long time ago…

"…Hahahahaha!" I laugh. I laugh at how stupid the formula is. It's effective yet incomplete… he forgot one crucial ingredient to it all.

"…! How did you know, huh!?" I punch the keyboard. My fist breaks it. There are only 3 people who knows these kinds of formulas.

"…If you're associated with 'him'…" then that means… It's impossible but it's not unlikely…

"...Doesn't matter… I won't be able to contact that 'guy' anyway…" that devilish bastard is probably busy keeping me here anyway… the ass…

"…Oh well…" I stand up straight and regain my posture…

"…Remember what I said Anonydeath…" I walk away... thinking up of a counter formula…

"…I have no tolerance over shitty parents…"


	112. Chapter 112

Chapter 112:

"*Sigh*…" I sigh after breathing the fresh air of the night.

Exiting the facility, I instinctively look up to the starry night sky. Relaxing my body right now would prove to be a wise choice as a few of my pent stress has already dissipated. My arm doesn't seem to be hurting now thanks to me being so damn 'special'. Maybe some dude wrote baguvix on a keyboard and thought that I was a man character.

-Also, remember that cave-in in the hallway cause by Blanc to stop the robot from following us earlier. Well, it disappeared when I came back, and the robot is wrecked… I feel sad…

Looking back on ground, I see the other girls a bit of ways from me. They're discussing something and Neptune seems to be throwing a fit or some sort. She's probably upset by the fact that Peashy forgot about her. Upon walking a few distance left, she notices me and runs. Geez… what a worrisome wife-to-be I have.

"Jared!"

Giving her a hug, I bury my nose on her hair inhaling it the smell. It fills my lungs with warmth. My brain feels relaxed, not wanting to mind anything other than this stimulus that I'm inhaling. I hug her even tighter, her body heat penetrates me. Putting me in cloud 9, as though she was a drug made just for me.

"Where's P-ko? The explosion didn't happened so we can get her right!?" after that she asks business. Well, I am still thinking, after all.

"Sorry… not with me…" I answer her.

" 'So what do we do now? We can't just force in on Peashy, right?' " Vert asked.

"But… but… I want Peashy back… She's like family…" Plutie said.

"I know… all of us are thinking the same thing. But with Peashy's state of mind, we could do more harm to her rather than good" considering that she's having a headache, I'm pretty sure that incomplete-formula is keeping her from remembering, things.

" 'What do you want to do…?' " Blanc asked now.

*GRRRRRRRR!*

Hearing an ungodly growl from somewhere, all seriousness have banished. Well, for one, we need to get our minds a break. It's not a sign of being unserious to the problem. It's a sign that we are, by doing something that doesn't show us that we are. Kinda hard to comprehend right?

"For now, eat is what we need… I'm hungry and it's already late in the night... my treat…"

"Are there any restaurants that is open at this time?" Nepgear asked me, having cancelled her HDD. Hmm…

"How about a fast food joint for a change of pace…" I know there is one that is 24 hours.

"…Sure" Blanc agreed cancelling her HDD.

"I think we all need a good change of pace anyways…" Vert says as she too cancels her HDD.

"Mhm, with everything that is happening we really should…" Noire said as well, cancelling her HDD.

"…I'm hungry…" Plutie complains.

"Wanna eat? There's pudding sundae if I remembered right" I said to my girl, trying to remember the menu.

"Pudding sundae!? Let's eat! Let's go! Right now!" Neptune pulls me by the arm.

"Goddammit! My arm! My arm!" I swear to gawd the ball is almost out of its socket!

* * *

"Histy we're home!"

Upon reaching our floor. Neptune said to anyone still awake in great delight, since her tummy is full with all the pudding sundae. Everyone steps in the hallway is dark, and a single source of light is opened on the kitchen. Heading towards the living area, there was no one to greet us.

The other three have gone back to their respective countries to rest for the night. I told them that I'll do all the planning next and contact them when we're ready to execute it. Since they trust me, I hope they do, they agreed and would come back tomorrow for the usual shenanigans.

"Maybe they're all asleep…" where is that goddamn rat? I can't seem to find him anywhere.

"*Yawwwwn*…I'm sleepy…" Plutie is wobbling while standing.

"It is already past midnight" even I'm feeling a bit of the spirit of drowsiness slowly possessing me.

"Goodnight…" Plutie heads to her room and disappears.

"*Yawwwn*…I'm going to sleep as well Big Brother…" Nepgear said.

"Goodnight Nepgear…"

"Night night, Nep Jr!" she disappeared in her own room.

The still silence dawned on us again. Neptune seems to be a bit energetic, but I figured she also needs some sleep. So telling myself that, I head to Histy's room silently. Since its dark here, I can't give you a description, but I know that the dresser is on the opposite end of the room. And that 2 beds and a basket are on the left side of the room where the windows are.

So passing the bed, I silently head towards the dresser and open it up. There's a section above the girls belongings where we keep the futon if ever the other three decided for a sleep over. So taking one roll of futon, a pillow and the covers, I slowly close the dresser and head out.

"Chu… chu…"

"…" so this is where the rat was… and you're still faking your injury just so you could sleep with Compa, huh.

Allow me to explain, these two are sleeping together on the same bed. And that pisses me off. Since the rat is clearly crazy for her, I get the feeling that I shouldn't allow this to happen. So taking the rat with me, slowly since Compa might wake up. I head out of the room.

"Chuuu… chuu…"

"Nepu? Where'd you pick him up?"

"With Compa…" dropping the futon on the ground, I head to the sliding door that leads to the terrace throw him out, and lock the door. Hope he doesn't make too much noise.

Seeing Neptune already unrolled the futon, I turn off the lights. The room is now shined by the stars and light outside. Neptune slipped under the covers and so do I. Sharing the same futon isn't that bad. She snuggles up to me, her warmth clearly relaxing me to sleep. Turn to the side and pull her in making sure that I steal all her warmth as she steals mine.

"ehehe… It's been a while since we've slept together like this…"

"Really…?"

"Mhm… Jared's warm…"

"I keep myself warm…"

"...Ehe…" she smiled. But after, it disappears and replaces it worry. Geez, this girl…

"Hey… about P-ko…"

"I know. We can save her… don't worry…"

"Um, no. It's not that…"

"Then what is it?"

"I was wondering if she'll be really able to remember me…"

"I'm sure she will…"

"But what if… she can't" I see…

"Then. Make more memories with her, one more time… That is the start of a relationship right?"

"Mhm…"

"But what if… she doesn't want to be with us anymore…"

"Then... we'll just overturn Eden and make sure that robot will keep his responsibility as her 'dad'"

"That's…"

"…I know, you don't want that to happen" it's not likely to happen since she's under influence of an incomplete formula.

"…Then…"

"Sleep… for now. We can talk about this tomorrow, alright?"

"Mhm… Sorry…"

"For what?"

"…You know me being all dramatic and all"

"Don't worry. I can be pretty dramatic as well. So you're not the only one…"

"Mhm… Goodnight Jared…"

"Goodnight Neptune…"

Giving the girl a kiss. She finally gave in to her slumber and sweet humming like tune escapes her mouth as she sleeps. I pull her closer to me and letting sleep take over me as well.

Feelings are the memories of the heart. And feelings transcends all things even dimensions and time. Feelings are not just stimuli of brain but a genuine rapture within the soul that pushes us to who we are today. It fills in unexplainable things that we cannot. It adds in color to grey days and keeps the sun shining even when it's dark at night. It reveals to us the simplification of life itself. And that its meaning is something so simple that we've always been overlooking it.

Feelings makes memories come bursting to life, even when it was once upon a time. As though we have only experienced them an hour ago.

And as I dwell into my head the things I need to do as I sleep. I revisit the days years ago. Where our feelings are shown on our smiles.


	113. Chapter 113

Chapter 113:

_"Hooh!"_

_"Crap too close!"_

_"Get ready Nep Jr.!"_

_"Goodness!" Nepgear dodged at the last second. The ball comes flying to the other two which are our shooters in this game._

_We're outside at the park, playing dodge ball. There are different mechanics to play dodge pall. But the version we're following is the one where the 'it' team gets to be pinned by the by other team on two sides. And that other team would throw a ball to the 'it' until they're all wiped out. Then change positions. Simple right._

_Well, we've been playing for a while. Nepgear, kid-Iffy and me are one team. And Plutie, Peashy, kid-Compa and Neptune are another. We could have called the others to join us. But since they're busy doing work we decided we'll play by ourselves. And come on, the power balance in this game is not on our side. Also, Iffy has been out a long time ago._

_"Oh! I got it Neptuna!" having caught the ball. Nepgear and I move away back as we wait for Peashy to throw the ball._

_"Mhm. Throw that bad boy!" Neptune instructed._

_"Jaweed, Here I come!" she threw the ball at me._

_"Whoa!" fuck that was fast!_

_Ducking a fast ball, I lose my balance and fall down on all fours. Kid-Compa have caught the ball, Nepgear has already put her distance away from the ball._

_"Eey!" she threw it... at… somewhere… Um. I am already here, with a big bulls eye on my back._

_"Um… you were suppose to hit them, y'know…" Neptune reminded her, as they are on the same side._

_"I did! I did!" that's..._

_With ball gently rolling towards Plutie to the other side, I regained my balance and stand up. Nepgear has returned since this distance is advantageous from both sides._

_"Here I goooo!"_

_Plutie threw the ball high. Nepgear and I ran to the other side making sure that we put a good distance away. Then… the wind blew and arc back downwards._

_"Goodness! That was close!" Nepgear dodged. The ball bounces towards Peashy and she takes a stance almost immediately._

_"Haaa!"_

_"Kya!"_

_Nepgear ducks under from a raging fast ball from Peashy. I know that ball has air inside, right? Because of aerodynamics, the flies straight first and then takes a lift upwards. Then, someone above catches it._

_" 'Take this!' "_

_"Hey! That's freakin' cheating!" I said to Neptune._

_Neptune threw the ball from above with a force of a meteor heading straight for us. Well, it isn't actually that powerful but you get my point. I dodge to the side avoiding such attack._

_"Gh!"_

_The moment it hits the ground it bounces towards me as I was in the middle of the dodging animation. Forcing my body to do what I want, I duck downwards avoiding the hit altogether. The ball flies to someone who's already waiting to catch the ball._

_"Haaaa!" Peashy you're cheating dammit!_

_She threw the ball. I go prone, ducking under it. But Neptune came in ready to catch and hit me. You're in our playing field woman!_

_" 'Haaa!' "_

_"Goodness!"_

_*THONK!*_

_She looks at me while instead threw the ball to her little sister. To the little sister's surprise, she tried to the dodge but the ball hits her abdomen anyways. A liver shot to be exact. She gets up and sighs defeated._

_"Geez, sis. That was way too unexpected!"_

_" 'If you don't pay attention. Then that would happen to you. Tough luck, Nep Jr' " and no one noticed that they're practically cheating right now? Great…_

_"Thonk!"_

_"Eh?"_

_"Hit! Hit! Hit!"_

_"Seems like I'm also not paying attention…*Sigh*…" we lose this round._

_Compa performed a sneak attack on me. She hits me with the ball on the thigh. I really don't know how she reappeared on my side so unexpectedly. Goes to show that I'm having fun._

_"Alright now it's our turn now… Neptune go back to normal please…"_

_" 'Why?' "_

_"Do I need to answer? You're clearly cheating…"_

_" 'There is a saying that 'All's fair in love and war' right?' " no woman, we are not starting a war here._

_"Aww… Hey, can I transform too?"_

_"Absolutely no!" I answer Plutie almost immediately._

_"Awww…" she seems sad._

* * *

_"Okay Neptune, ya ready?"_

_"Mhm! Let's do it!"_

_Holding the ball tight, I take a step and swing my arm wide, and threw the ball towards the 4._

_"Nepu! Haha. Missed!"_

_"Neep!"_

_Catching the ball, kid-Iffy threw the ball immediately after. Her target was Neptune since she was the one that took her out previously. Her revenge must be quite deep. Neptune ducks under avoiding the ball._

_Catching the ball on my side of the playing field. I look around for a potential hit. Hrm… Maybe I could hit her._

_"…!" I throw the ball at Plutie._

_"Eh-Eeeh…! Eh!" she panics a bit since she's the ball is rushing towards her. She dodges clumsily on the side._

_"Sorry, Plutia!" Nepgear catching the ball, she threw it towards Plutie without hesitation._

_Plutie was pulled to the side by Neptune saving her from getting out. The ball flies to an unsuspected victim instead._

_"Owwy!" kid-Compa gets hit and falls on the ground butt first. I run to her since I'm the one closest._

_"You okay?" I ask her as I crouch and pull her up._

_"Mhm. I wanted to play some more…"_

_"Well, this is a game so… tough luck, I guess…"_

_"Awww…" she looks sad._

_"You okay, Compa? It didn't hurt too much right?" Nepgear runs over to us._

_"Mhm. It doesn't…"_

_"Okay… c'mon to the sidelines so you won't get hit again…"_

_"But I wanna play with Jar-Jar and Nep-Nep some more…"_

_"Hey, it's a game. We can't always get things our way alright?" I tell her some words to live by._

_"Aww…" she looks sad._

_"…*Sigh*… The things I do for love…" all right, all right. I have a soft spot for this kinds of things…_

* * *

_"There! Compa you ready!"_

_"Mhm!"_

_"Hey! That's cheating!" Neptune accuses. You cheated as well._

_"Sorry woman. But I've successfully turned over your Compa to the dark side!" I say so while crossing my arms._

_With Compa mounted on my shoulders, and holding my hair so that she won't fall off. I get ready and throw the ball at them._

_"Nepu!"_

_"Eh!"_

_The three dodged simulataniously and runs over near to my side of the playing area. Kid-Iffy catches the ball and threw it at Peashy. She dodges playfully and I catch the ball immediately._

_"Jar-Jar! Hit Nep-Nep!" kid-Compa commands._

_"Okay!" I threw the ball at Peashy._

_"Yay I dodged it!" with the ball dodged. Nepgear catches the ball and threw it back at her._

_"Oww!" Peashy fell on her butt._

_"Ah, sorry!" Nepgear apologizes afterwards._

_"…C'mon Peashy, you're out now…" _

_"Eeh… But I wanna hit Neptuna!"_

_"No can do, kiddo!" Neptune said._

_"Sorry, but when your out. Your out…"_

_"But Compa got to play…" she said._

_"She isn't she's just sitting on my shoulders…"_

_"…Poo…" sigh, kids these days. Or maybe it's how I raised them. For the most part, their spoiled side is on the cute side of things not the annoying type. And their pretty mindful of the situation, thankfully._

_"Fine… after this we get to buy some ice cream, okay?"_

_"Ice cream?" she looks at me with great interest._

_"Okay? Now onto the sidelines…"_

_"Mhm!" petting her head she totters off and sat on the grassy ground._

_"*Sigh*…I thought she's gonna throw a fit…"_

_Picking up the ball. The two remaining players gets ready to play some more._


	114. Chapter 114

Chapter 114:

_Whenever we are young and about. People would always ask what would be our dream be when we grow up. It's only natural, since children are very innocent, not bounded by the hardships of reality. They can dream to travelling the infinite cosmos, be a hero of a village, or even be god if they so desire. But as children grow up, reality will always catch up to them, their minds mature and their dreams are now nothing more than just a fragile memory._

_Adults are realists. Bounded by the things they call 'duty'. They always look up into the stars as though wishing. But still keep their legs firmly on the ground afraid to take flight. They look around, finding the clues. But the only clues they get are the distant dreams of the past. They would turn a blind eye at the obvious answer and ask for second opinions, searching for a tale that was once told to long ago._

_But a tale can only be epic once we turn back our time. To a time where our knowledge was limited but our imagination was not. To a time where we do not know complexity and only know simplicity. To a time where our dreams seems to be real and alive and vibrant. To a time where we are just an infant, and that the world was an amazing sight to behold._

_That to live fully, is to be a child no matter the age._

_"…and The End, now go to sleep…"_

_"Aww… But we want you tell us a story some more…" Compa complained._

_"Jaweed has cool awesome stories!"_

_"Hey, I've already told 3 bedtime stories already. And it's 10 in the evening…"_

_As you can guess already, I'm telling a bedtime story to the kids. Kids always love the ideas of stories and it helps them sleep better if we do that. They get better happy dreams if they sleep after a good story. But, since I'm a passerby with many, many stories inside my head, they've became interested. Too interested. To the point it's hard to get them to sleep…_

_"Please! Can I hear about the Ceasar again?" Iffy requested._

_"I told that story 10 times already…" I don't know why, but she's interested in my time in the __Legio tertia decima Geminia_. _Specifically, where Ceasar made us fight in the civil war in Italy back in 49 BC. Oh the memories..._

_"…Please, just one more…"_

_"*Sigh*…" I'm really not in the mood to talk anymore since I have to get out of here already. Mini-Histy won't get much sleep. Hrm… Oh wait…_

_"Let's talk about something different then…"_

_"What's more interesting than stories?" kid-Compa asked._

_"Boo…" kid-Iffy seems disinterested._

_"Mainly let's talk about your dreams…"_

_"Dreams?" Peashy is letting the word sink in to her._

_"Yeah. Any dreams of the future? You know, what you want to be when you grow up?"_

_"I want to be a nurse!" kid-Compa said in delight._

_"Oho, nice… why do you want to be one?" I smile at that fact. So I sit on the floor and patiently listen._

_"Because, because. I want to help people feel better when their sick…"_

_"Won't a doctor do the same thing?" _

_"But… being a doctor is hard…" well, that I can agree on._

_"That's why I made Jar-Jar buy me a big, big pokey thingy!" it's syringe. I look at the corner and see one huge syringe. Also the tip is an inflatable piece so she won't hurt anyone. I do hope she doesn't start poking someone's eyes. I got that for her birthday since she wanted that one specifically._

_"Okay… what's your dream Iffy?"_

_"Hmm…I want to be a hero!" oh, a hero, eh? Sounds fun… reminds me of a certain girl._

_"…And I want to ride a dragon and a pony!" the hell!?_

_"So… what? A knight a of sorts?"_

_"Mhm! Not just any knight. But a knight that can eradicate all bad things in this world!" she said as she raises her arms._

_"That's a pretty good dream…" I'm serious on that one. And it's not a laughing matter, either._

_"…What about you? Peashy? Any dreams about what you want to be?"_

_"Hrmm… I wanna eat Neptuna's pudding everyday!" she exclaimed with glee._

_"You're gonna get fat, by the time you hit 30" I mumbled._

_"…I wanna play with Jaweed and Compa and Iffy and Neptuna when I grow up!"_

_"Hm…" I smile. Although most parents will just put it off as a child's delusions of the complexity of life. This is one dream that most children should use as their base._

_"…Then, we can eat cake and pudding!" she said with a big grin on her face._

_"Mhm! When grow up I wanna play with everyone too!" Compa agrees._

_"Mhm! Mhm!" kid-Iffy nods enthusiastically. _

_"Okay, okay… I get it…" I stand up from my place and walk over to them._

_"…If we work hard then we can make that dream come true, alright?" I pet Iffy's and Compa's head._

_"Just remember that you 3 are always gonna be a good girls, alright? Don't put down other people and always help people in need. Follow my advice and you'll be able to make your dream come true. Deal?"_

_"Deal!" they three chorused._

_Giving the 2 girls first, a kiss on the forehead. I tuck them under the covers. Walking over to Peashy, I pet her head, tuck her in and give her a kiss on the forehead before heading to the door. I stop before I turn the doorknob._

_"Goodnight you three… Sweet dreams…"_

_"Goodnight…"_

_"Jar-Jar…" Compa calls._

_"Yeah?"_

_"What's your dream?" she asked me. Well, this is kinda unexpected, I feel 3 pairs of eyes piercing my back._

_"…I don't have one…"_

_"Eh?"_

_"My dream already came true…" I open the door and walk out, closing the door silently._

* * *

_"Waaaaaaaah! Neptuuuuunaaa! Jaweeeeeed! Neptuuuunaaaa!"_

_"Hey, get back here!"_

_The next day, while I was preparing our lunch this afternoon. Peashy and kid-Iffy comes rushing out of the door like a _Geococcyx californianus_. The commotion stirred everyone up. Peashy, came running to Neptune and hides behind her while Iffy is trying to corner._

_"Nepu!? Why're you bawling your face off, P-ko?"_

_"Iffy made fun of you?" Plutie asked._

_"That's not true. Peashy was running around the room and smacked her face into the wall"_

_"That's what got her crying, I suppose…" kids are so prone to getting hurt that some are even comical._

_"Oh, I see. Poor girl… That must've hurt, huh?" Nepgear kneels and pets Peashy's forehead, which has a bump._

_"What a little idiot…" you can say that again Neptune._

_"Wait. P-ko, you don't normally cry over something like this" now that she said it, she normally doesn't._

_"It doesn't hurt, but I'm really scared! Waaaaaaah!" she cries some more._

_"Scared…?" Plutie is even more confused. Well, all of us are._

_"Well, Peash's face turned red and Compa said she'd fix her boo-boo right up" kid-Iffy continues her explanation._

_"Pea-Pea, don't run away from me!"_

_Looking Compa comes running out of the room carrying the giant toy-syringe over her head. They both run around Neptune, since one is running away and the other is chasing her. Now I feel like that was a stupid move to buy her that on her birthday. Oh well, it's not too late to tell her._

_"Waaah! Boo! I don't wanna get a shot!"_

_"Goodness! Compa, are you running around with that syringe?" isn't that obvious Nepgear._

_"I get it… She was scared to get a shot…" who doesn't Plutie?_

_"Ah, I see. For most kiddos, their three fears are shots, ghosts, and… eggplants"_

_"That's just you Neptune…" I said._

_"Eggplants…? Why not green peppers…?"_

_"Green peppers are essential, you know…"_

_"Eggplants are wicked, you see"_

_"No they are not" how much do you hate eggplants? I know they taste… well, bland... that's why we put fish-paste on them to hide the taste._

_"Please give me your face. If I give you a shot on your face, you'll feel much better" and how is she going to do that!? I guess she took that whole dream thing a little too seriously…_

_"No! My face is mine!" the victim to be screamed._

_"Compa can say the most terrifying things with the straightest face" _

_"She does it too, with a cute smile to boot…" I add Nepgear's comment._

_Walking over to the rowdy group. I put my hand on the syringe while they were running around, and took it without the beholder's knowledge. It took a moment before she noticed. Even if the tip is nothing more but plastic. It would still hurt anyone under the most innocent of reasons._

_"C'mon Compa. It's bad to use a syringe this early…"_

_"Awww, why…?"_

_"You're too young to be using one on others, Compa" Nepgear said._

_"Yup. When you get older, you can fling it around for fun. I mean, you _do _in the other world!" that was uncalled for, Neptune._

_"Aww… But I just wanted to be a good nurse to Peashy…" she seems disheartened._

_"If you want to be a nurse, then for now it's enough to just pet their head when it hurts. That's the first thing you can do until you get big enouh"_

_"Okay! Pea-Pea, let me pet your head!"_

_"*Sniff!* *Sniff!* No more shots?" Peashy asks still scared._

_"Mhm! No more shots! Here… Pet, pet, pet pet…"_

_"Aha! That's so comfy!"_

_"Awww… That looks cute…" Nepgear comments. Enjoying the serene scene._

_"As much as I want to watch… It's time that I make lunch…"_


	115. Chapter 115

Chapter 115:

_Poets are nothing more than just writers. Writing on a piece of paper in rhythm of the world that they see. Of how the green grass grow, of how the passersby come and go, of how the stars twinkle and how the moon and earth dance around elegantly. The taste of a sweet fruit, the smell of a lovely flower, the feel of a gentle wind, the sound of the calming waves, the sight of the golden sunset._

_We are not creators, merely poets. We are paraphrasing the things that we inhale. And we exhale them in beautiful means. We are reporters, allowing people to know how to look at the world in a different lens, a different filter. We are all tourists, seeing the different curios things back as souvenirs to share for the world._

_ We are all transcribers, in which inspiration comes through you not from you. It is with you, but does not belong to you._

_"See? From there we get the ∫ π, 2π [(-cosx + xcosy)]x = 0, x= π dy. Then if we plug-in the values of the inside first we get…?"_

_"Hrm… Its 2 + πcosy. I have to integwate this, right?"_

_"Yup. So the answer would be…"_

_"Um… ∫ π, 2π (2+ πcosy) dy is 2y + πsiny|y=π, y=2π. So it's… um… 4π - 2π?"_

_"Yup. And the answer is…?"_

_"2π! Yay! I got it!"_

_"Good job!" we both high five._

_If you can already tell, I'm teaching our young 7-year old Compa how to do Double Definite Integral. She's come a long way in terms of her math. She isn't all that interested in math… but since she's a natural at it I might as well develop it, she might find it handy in the future._

_The rest of the cast are away doing shopping to reload our daily supplies. I should've come since I know it's going to get heavy. But Nepgear said it's would be good to buy some for tomorrow for now, then buy some more that would last for a week. Agreeing, I stayed back at home and immerse myself in teaching Compa calculus._

_-Also mini-Histy is… somewhere. She's probably buying batteries and would comeback after 3 days. I am worried..._

_"Okay… since we're done with part… I think you can do our last item right?"_

_"∫ 0, 2 ∫ 0, 1 (xy^3)/(x^2 +1) dy dx… it looks hard…"_

_"Not really… just do it one by one and if it gets confusing just tell me…"_

_"Okay!" she started scribbling on the piece of paper._

_Hearing the friction from the two objects, mainly the pencil and the paper, are like music to my ears. I look around and I noticed that those 2 tykes are having fun on the dinner table over there. Seems they're drawing something. Since I was helping Compa with her studies, I wasn't paying any attention to them at all. Let's see…_

_"Jared! We're back!"…oh crud… and I was about to pay attention to them as well…_

_"Welcome home, you three..." I greet them since kid-Compa and I are able to see them from this spot on the living area's well carpeted floor._

_"Welcome home, Nep-Nep, Plu-Plu, Ge-Ge!" kid-Compa enumerates._

_"We're back, Big Brother! Compa!" Nepgear greets as all three of them entered._

_"What ya all bought? I'm going to guess that the first one was…" I wait for a moment…_

_"Pudding and more sweets!" Neptune cheered._

_"We made sure to stock up for next week as well!" Plutie adds, cheerily. You're going to make us poor, you know._

_"Let's put them in the fridge so we can eat them later…"_

_"Okay!" the two opens up the fridge._

_"Ah… Well, we did bought some actual food, some meat and vegetables…"_

_"That's good. I thought we're going to have some candy this dinner…" that got me relieved._

_"I'm putting the meat in the freezer, Big Brother" Nepgear announces._

_"Yeah… it's a little bit of ways before I make dinner anyway…" I check the time on my phone. Yup, just an hour left before I start doing anything._

_"Jar-Jar, Jar-Jar…"_

_"Hrm?" I look at kid-Compa._

_"I don't get this part…" she points on section of the solution._

_"Remember that ∫ 1/something dx = ln |something| +C, right?"_

_"Oh! Thanks Jar-Jar…" she started scribbling down on her paper once more._

_"Nepu! Compa is learning some pretty heavy stuff!" Neptune is surprised._

_"Mhm! She's really, really smart. I don't get the math at all…" Plutie said._

_"I don't think it's a good idea to learn calculus at a young age…" Nepgear says her concern._

_"I guess…" even if calculus isn't applied all the time. It still helps you to observe and be critical about things._

_"Jar-Jar! I did it! The answer is 2ln2!"_

_"Good job!" we high fived. I think my student is ready for vector calculus._

_"*Yaaawnn*…I'm sleepy…" after yawning her focus are now dazed._

_"…Go to sleep then. We'll wake you up when dinner is ready…"_

_"Okaay…" she stand up and wobbly heads towards her room._

_"Night, night…" she sleepily said as she opens the door._

_"Goodnight" …and she disappeared inside as the door shuts._

_"So what are those 2 doing?" Nepgear asked as we all turn our attention to the two on the dinner table._

_"Huh? Is it food coma time? I never see Peashy playing so quietly " Neptune is surprised._

_"Curious? Let's go see…" curious, we head towards them. We silently head towards them and take a peak of what they are doing._

_"See. This is where the dark flame is kept…" kid-Iffy points to an obscure drawing of an amulet. This is some pretty graphic drawings…_

_"Waaaah! I don't get it, but it sounds really cool!" Peashy praised._

_"Doesn't it? You really do get this kind of stuff, Peash" she already she didn't get it right?_

_"What're you doing…? Drawing…?" Plutie asked. What a great way to blow our cover._

_"Drawing? C'mon. Don't lump me in with that childish nonsense"_

_"Says the child herself…"_

_"But you're drawing something really interesting…" Nepgear peeks over my shoulder._

_"Uh, it's like, um… yeah! We're thinking of a setting!" Peashy answered._

_"A setting…?" Plutie wondered._

_"Huh? Th-That's…" Nepgear has gotten the gist of things._

_"A setting for a story?" I ask the two._

_"Mhm!"_

_"This… is mortifying, Iffy! You've reached the age where you do this kind of dark stuff?" oh, so that's it. She's probably going to regret doing such things in the future, but oh well. It's part of being youthful._

_"I-If you're curious about it, I can show you some of it…" and why are you blushing getting all embarrassed for?_

_"Lemme see! Lemme see! I wanna see!"_

_"Eh? Eh? But to be interested in making up childish stories at her age… Maybe we should stop her…" Nepgear suggested, worried for Iffy's future._

_"What are you say saying, Nep Jr.! This totally awesome sto-… I mean…" she stops herself._

_"I refuse to stop someone from using their powers of imagination"_

_"That's some pretty deep stuff…" I'm impressed, honestly._

_"Uh-huh, what she said… Besides, they're planning together soooo nicely…" Plutie adds in her own._

_"But…" but the little sister still has doubts._

_"Oh, what's that? Why is that dude's right hand glowing neon?" Neptune asked as she points to some obscure drawing of a man having a right hand that glows._

_"It draws your eyes' attention, doesn't it? His hand holds the power of another Gaia in it"_

_"Gaia? The primodal goddess of the earth? _That _Gaia?" she was the one that created all of the Earth and Universe. The gods, titans and giants._

_"Mhm! So whatever he touches goes BOOOSH!" Plutie exclaimed in glee._

_"That's pretty impressive. He's basically god by then…"_

_"But it's so powerful, he can only use it three times. Otherwise, it'll eviscerate its wielder" what an incomplete ability._

_"Wow… You know such big words, Iffy…" Plutie praised her for her vocabulary._

_"Ahahaha! That's so cool! Sensational! Okay, so what're these wings?" Neptune points at the obscure drawing of a man that has wings of a fly._

_"I only see one…" Plutie tries to look for the other._

_"See? It's here? It's just covered by this thing…" I point it for her._

_"It's not a wing, it's a pinion. It was touched by the wrath of Metatron before time immemorial!"_

_"Cool, this guy is really getting close to become god, huh?" if the wings we're blessed by Metatron, a guy that is sitting literally next to god. And he has the primodal goddess of the earth in his right hand. Then he's definitely having a blast being god._

_"Yeah. And we decided he'd have bug wings instead. We talked all about it!" Peashy adds._

_"Insect isn't right. These are the wings of the lord of flies, Beelzebub!"_

_"Beelzebub! Ahahahahaha! The demon of gluttony makes his appearance!" he is a fat dude after all._

_"And he has the wings of the supreme chieftain of hell…" although John Milton wrote that he is a rank below Satan, Satan isn't as powerful. Since Satan is still under god's rule. Beelzebub, being a fly since it's his _nom de guerre_, and something that was not created by god, is not under the omnipotent one._

_"Wow, you're oddly knowledgeable about this sort of thing, Nep and Jared. Uh, and this one is…"_

_"Tell me more, too…!"_

_Interested in this sort of topic. All 3 of us have engrossed ourselves in the setting that kid-Iffy made. Maybe after she's done explaining all of this stuff we might add some more to her setting._

_"They seem to be having fun. I hope it's okay. This might embarrass IF later in life…" I know she will Nepgear. But it would also add something interesting in her bibliography._


	116. Chapter 116

Chapter 116:

_"Hrm…?"_

_The moment that I'm at the Planeptower's doors, coming back from my daily routine of jogging, I noticed a peculiar box sitting on the front doors of the Basilicom. It's wrapped in Christmas decors and is held together with by a red string. Asking the guards, they said there aren't any life endangering elements inside and it was for us._

_"Us?"_

_"Yeah… Some kid said that it was meant for you folks above..."_

_"I see… Does anyone know that kid?"_

_"Not much. He's a kid that we've seen playing with some toy gun down at the park…"_

_"Hrm…" now that is strange. Oh well, it's a blessing from the heaven's so what the hell…_

_"Sure we aren't going to be torn into a million pieces if we open the thing?"_

_"Pretty sure. We've scanned it for at least 30 minutes, before putting it back here…" hearing that, I take the box and carry it with both hands. You can imagine how big and light it is._

_Thanking the guard, I head towards the elevator and it's a bit of a struggle to press the button. With luck I got the elevator to go to the main floor and I headed in. Since no one is inside, thankfully, I head inside, put down the box, and press the 'Home' button. The door closes and it gently rises to my desired floor._

_"I'm back" I announce. Whoops… This thing is really big…_

_"Oh, Jared. Welcome home…" Nepgear greeted._

_"Jared! Whooah! What's that big box?" Neptune is surprised._

_"Is it a Christmas present?" kid-Compa asked._

_"It's a huuuge!" Peashy said._

_"It's not a Christmas present… And it's not Christmas as well…" I put down the present with a loud thump._

_"Then what is it? Is it full of candy!" Peashy asked._

_"Come now, I haven't actually opened the damn thing yet. Hey Iffy, bring me some scissors so we can open this thing…"_

_"Okay!" kid-Iffy disappears in her room and mere moments later, she came back with scissors on hand._

_Cutting the red string open, I slowly unwrap the Christmas present careful not to make anything blow up on our faces. Not like I don't trust the dude downstairs but it's better to be careful. And it reveals to be a brown box. All our attention were focused on the box as though we are expecting all the evil in the world to be released. I open the lid an inch making sure there isn't a bomb that would explode upon opening. Finding nothing, I open it fully and it reveals to be…_

_"Packs of marshmallows?" Nepgear cocks her head in confusion._

_Inside, the first thing we see, was a packs upon packs of marshmallows. They vary in an assortment of colors. I take a pack and examine it. Seems these things are just bought locally at a small store. Opening one, I chew on one and… it's tasty._

_"Here... take a bite…" Compa takes it._

_"Armgh!"_

_"Guh! Goddammit! That's my hand, Neptune!"_

_Apparently, Neptune wants to steal it from her but accidentally bit my hand. Crap, I think it's freakin' bleeding dammit. Don't fucking chew on my hand woman!_

_"Gaaah! Hey! Don't bite it already!" I push her away._

_"Mgmgh! Puaaah… Eeh? Those aren't marshmallows…"_

_"That was my hand!" you're seriously trying to amputate me!?_

_"Oooh… These marshmallows taste great!_

_"*Nom!* *Nom!* *Nom!* *Chew!* *Chew!* *Chew!*"_

_"Pea-Pea, don't eat too fast…"_

_"Hey, save some for the others…"_

_It seems the kids and Plutie are having the time of their life just eating their share of marshmallows._

_"Hey there's more inside…"_

_Nepgear pulled out what seems to be a gun of sorts. The design is simplistic, remnant of a pump action shotgun. There are two pipes, the big one on the bottom has a forestock. The top pipe is smaller and it attached to a barrel at the end. Wait, that's…_

_"What's this supposed to be?" Nepgear analyzes the object._

_"It's a marshmallow gun…"_

_"Eh?"_

* * *

_*POP!* *POP!* *POP!* *POP!*_

_"Tch! Dammit! We're pinned!" I take cover after I fire a couple of rounds._

_*POP!* *POP!* *POP!* *POP!*_

_"Aaaaah!" Neptune is shouting while firing._

_"Jared! We can't hold on!" kid-Iffy said._

_"We can! Just hold your ground! Neptune take cover!"_

_"Nepu!" she do as she is told._

_*POP!* *POP!* *POP!* *POP!*_

_If you already guessed we're playing, then I'll give you a jacket. So, the thing that we got were actually marshmallow guns from the box. It was fun at first, but then things started getting more a bit serious and here we are, trying to shoot each other with marshmallows._

_Neptune, kid-Iffy and me, are at the kitchen area hiding behind the counter. The rest are, at the entrance of a dinner area. Trying to shoot us with marshmallows._

_*POP!* *POP!* *POP!* *POP!*_

_"We won't be able to last any longer if we're all in a pickle…" I take cover._

_"What should we do?" Neptune asked._

_"Give me covering fire, I'm going to change covers"_

_"Okay!"_

_Neptune and Iffy get ready as I inch closer to the edge of the counter. Those 4 are pinning us down like wolf to a rabbit in a rabbit hole. Raising 3 fingers, I slowly pull down my ring finger… then my middle… and my inde-!_

_*POP!* *POP!* *POP!* *POP!*_

_*POP!* *POP!* *POP!* *POP!*_

_"Raaaaaaah!"_

_"Yaaaaaaah!"_

_Those 2 got out of cover and fired off their marshmallows at them. I run to the hall, while rains after rains of marshmallows are attacking me. I keep my head low and my eyes focused running as fast as I can towards the edge of the hall. I roll, and hug the wall immediately after I recovered. Breathing a sigh of relief, I signal the two to drop down and take cover._

_*POP!* *POP!* *POP!* *POP!*_

_*POP!* *POP!* *POP!* *POP!*_

_Because of that, their focus are now split in two. I've got to hand to myself. Their firing both at me and at the counter trying to take out if we make any mistakes during cover. Damn…_

_*POP!* *POP!* *POP!* *POP!*_

_I fire a few shots from cover, trying to intimidate them from firing endlessly. But they don't falter._

_"Neptune throw me a pack…"_

_"Okay" she takes a pack and throws me some._

_Ripping open the pack I take a bunch of marshmallows until I can't hold anything anymore and throw it at them._

_"NOW!"_

_All three of us get out of cover as we fire and endless rain of marshmallows at them. They stop firing back and instead hide from the onslaught. We fire still to make sure that we take a chance the moment they make a mistake._

_"I can take them!"_

_"No, Iffy!"_

_Iffy runs off trying to flank them. Seeing this opportunity, Peashy fires off one from cover and it hits Iffy's forehead._

_*POP!*_

_"Ugh…" she falls down…_

_"Yay! I got her!"_

_"No! Iffy!" I grieve. Dammit! She was just a child! How could you!?_

_"Neptune! C'mere with a one more bag!" I tell her._

_"Mhm!"_

_As Neptune rolls over to my side, I give her covering fire by throwing more marshmallows at them and firing off from my gun._

_"Goal!" Neptune takes cover beside me._

_"Okay we only have one shot at this…" I have no idea why I am this passionate about marshmallow wars. No wait, it would be interesting to see…_

_"Mhm…"_

_"I throw this open bag of marshmallows at them… by them, I mean to the dining table. And you throw these bunch of marshmallows at them while I do that. After, we just move in, and finish them off… got it?"_

_"Okay!"_

_"Let's do it! For Iffy!"_

_"Mhm!"_

_Both of get ready for our attack. They fire endlessly. I know the same tactic won't work again but it's the only thing I can think off. My mind is clouded on Iffy's ungracious defeat earlier. I throw the marshmallow bag at them. They stop firing and hides. Good job…_

_*THUD!*_

_Realizing that it was just a bag and nothing more than just a bluff they take off from cover and was about to start firing when…_

_"Everyone hide!" Nepgear tells them._

_They all hide from the rain of marshmallows again. Neptune and I move as fast as we can, making sure to use the small window of opportunity to our advantage. We turn on opposite directions, left and right, and jump into the fray of our opponents._

_But when I took aim as we enter I noticed that Nepgear has her sights on me. She must have expected me to make such a move. Well, a sweep and clear tactic isn't as effective unless you have many people behind you. It takes a second now to just shoot before landing on the ground and get shot ruthlessly. _

_Knowing that, Nepgear started pushing the forestock. Forcing pressure to fly one marshmallow at me. I push mine as well… aiming on her head…_

_*POP!* _


	117. Chapter 117

Chapter 117:

_Never let go of things unappreciated. I made up that line years ago. I personally do not believe that machines do not have a heart. They do, only which it is not something physical. Nor do they have a breath of life. It is something that we give them. A sort of illusion that gives us the sense they are doing something for us. They are doing their work for us without asking for compensation. Rather it asks for our initiative._

_Just like how we ride motorcycles, while we give it speed. In turn it gives us balance. While we give it control. In turn, it keeps us safe from the asphalt. While we keep it in tip-top condition, it will never falter during our travels. It's in those moments that you start to see the value of things. As though you are giving them a heart. _

_"Hmm~ Hmm~…"_

_"Oh, Plutie's making dolls again…" I said._

_Plutie is humming while she is sewing the skin of the doll she's making into shape. If you can't already tell. She's already making the leg of the doll. I've got to say, she's pretty good at making a plush doll. She's so used to it that she can probably make one in less than an hour if she does it undisturbed._

_"She always makes lots of dolls when there's nothing to do...*SIIIP!* Huaa!" my wife-to-be drinks the last of her pudding drink. I don't know how those stuff are made…_

_"...I noticed. Instead of dozing off she chooses to make a doll to kill time…" the urge to make one with her is slowly rising._

_Neptune and I are at the counter, and Nepgear is on the other side making something by cutting the carrots and ginger into thin sticks. And she also has a tilapia ready on the side. Oh, I think I know what she's making…_

_"Anyway Nep Jr. What're we having for lunch today?" Neptune asked._

_"I'm making sweet and sour tilapia" Nepgear answered her sister._

* * *

_"I'm making sweet and sour… something, something!"_

* * *

_"Sweet and sour... huh…" I mumbled._

_"Hrm?" the sister peered at me._

_"Nothing, nothing. I just remembered something…" I hold Neptune's hand._

_"Ehe…" she gives a small smile and she interlocks her fingers with mine._

_"Jar-Jar! Nep-Nep!"_

_"Hm?"_

_"What is it? Want some pudding from li'l ol me?" Neptune asks._

_"HmHmm… Our clothes broke…" kid-Iffy said…_

_"Our clothes have boo-boo's on them…"_

_"Haa? Are your clothes bleeding?" does clothes actually bleeds?_

_"Hmhmm… they have holes on them…" kid-Iffy turned around to see stitch on the sleeve, of her oversized blue jacket, on the back shoulder is now ripped. _

_"And mine has a boo-boo" Compa lifts up to reveal that the armpit of her pink jacket has a hole that can fit 3 fingers._

_"*Sigh*… C'mon you two… what game are you playing to make this sort of damage?"_

_"We're wrestling!"_

_"Again…?" I know that they're not watching those pro wrestling shows and the like, since I had filtered those with the programming on, the TV. But where do they learn such things?_

_"You know you two… Playing wrestling to this extent is bad…" I crouch down to their eye level…_

_"But it's fun!" they both said._

_"What if you break a spleen or something? You're going to cry all day from the pain!" Neptune said._

_"But we're only playing it safe. We aren't getting hurt…" kid-Iffy said._

_"Still... so what if when you play you suddenly slip and hurt the other instead? That's worst, right?" I said._

_"…Then wrestling is bad? We're not going to play anymore wrestling?" kid-Compa said._

_"I'm not saying that it's bad… I'm trying to say is… if you're gonna play, make sure that you're safe and you're playmates are as well… Remember what I said about it?"_

_"Mhm! We should always think of our actions 10 times before we do it!" Compa said._

_"Good job…" I pet her head._

_"Okay, you two? I'm not banning you from horse playing? But make sure everyone is still safe afterwards all right?"_

_"Mhm!" kid-Iffy asked._

_"Promise?" _

_"Promise"_

_"With pudding on top?" Neptune asks._

_"With pudding on top!" That was uncalled for, but at least it works._

_"Okay. Now that that's settled… take those off so I can sew them…"_

_"Okay!"_

_Taking the pink coat and oversized blue one off of them. I head towards Plutie who is now cutting fabric for the body of her plush doll. I sit near her, making sure that I won't disturb her concentration. It'd be bad if she suddenly cut her finger or something._

_"Plutie, mind if I borrow a needle and string?"_

_"Hm? Mhm… I don't mind at all…" she answered me after she looked who it was._

_Taking a pink string first, I pull at length and cut it by biting on it. I take a needle from a pin cushion, painfully shoot the string through the needle hole, and started stitching the ripped parts of their clothes._

_"Nepu? Where's P-ko? Is she sleeping from playing all the time?"_

_"Hmhmm… She said she was looking for something…" kid-Iffy answered._

_"Ploot! Hey, Ploot!"_

_Hearing running footsteps, I take a peek at what is happening. Peashy is heading towards Plutie with a doll, modeled after a lion, and is now missing its leg. No wait, its leg is now being held together by just a string. I did tell her not to be rough on her toys since it's a waste._

_"Hmm? What is it, Peashy?" Plutie stopped cutting and puts her attention at the little girl before her._

_"My stuffed animal's leg fell off. Fix it!" she showed it to her._

_"Aww, again…? Peashy, you're so rough with your toys…" even she is starting to notice._

_"It's not my fault! The stuffed animal is just really weak!" and why would you expect that stuffed animal would be strong. They're not bullet proof._

_"Don't blame the stuffed animal… Hmm, maybe I need to remake it with a more durable cloth…"_

_"No! I want this kind!" she declared thus._

_"Why? It'll be much prettier if I make a new one…"_

_"You've fixed this one tons of times, so it's got a lotta your heart in it and stuff!" woah! Metaphysical analogy! Because of that, I slowly move away from them. Not wanting to disturb such a conversation._

_"Ohhh, so my heart's in there?" even Plutie is surprised._

_"Uh-huh. Plutie's heart is there, see?'_

_"P-ko is saying some mysterious and vaguely existential things" Neptune said._

_"I can kind of understand where she's coming from, though" Nepgear adds._

_"If she keeps this up, in few years time, she's going to be much more mature…"_

_"Okey-dokey, then I'll do my best to fix this one up for you…"_

_"Yay! Fix it good!"_

_"But if my heart's in here, please try to take better care of it…"_

_"I said it wasn't my fault! The stuffed animal is just way too weak!"_

* * *

_A/N: I know that these flashbacks are overstaying their welcome here... And I'm trying to make it quick, since there are 5 'specific' events I have to cover. So 2 more chapters. Holdout on 2 more, I'm also holding out as well..._


	118. Chapter 118

Chapter 118:

_*SPLASH!*_

_"Mmm…!"_

_"Close your eyes, Compa. I'll be washing your head now…"_

_"Mm…"_

_*SCRUB!* *SCRUB!* *SCRUB!*_

_*SPLASH!*_

_"Nepu! You're going to get this time you tyke!"_

_*SPLASH!* *SPLASH!* *SPLASH!* *SPLASH!*_

_"Hey, don't splash around!"_

_Its evening after dinner, and all 5 of us are bathing right now. Everyone in her, except I, are butt naked. I'm wearing my swimming trunks making sure their wholeness are still intact._

_Washing the kids' bodies until they're skin is baby-smooth is a must when you're raising children. It's an asset that they need when they grow up. Of course, they have to take the initiative to take care of themselves, but as of now, since they're young, spoiling this much isn't so bad._

_I scrub kid-Compa's hair with shampoo. Making sure that I get a good lather before rinsing it off with water. I take the conditioner on the side and scrub her hair again, softening it._

_"Jar-Jar…" kid-Compa seeks in closed eyes._

_"Yeah?"_

_"…Conditioner tastes bad…"_

_"Sorry, you didn't swallow that stuff did you?"_

_"Hmhmm…" she shook her head._

_"That's a relief… Keep your eyes closed… I'll be rinsing you off now…" taking the dipper, I make fill it up with water and pour over head and while scrubbing it with my free hand. It got all the lather off and what remains is her congo-pink hair retaining their softness._

_"Okay… now get into the tub…"_

_"Yay!" she runs off to the tub and joined the festivities._

_Since I have time to be clean myself, I take a towel and rub it on the soap to make a good lather. I then scrub it on my arms and legs thoroughly, making sure that those brownish patches on my skin are gone. They're just dirt that got stuck on my skin after all._

_"Jared!"_

_"Whoa there woman… don't attack me from behind…" Neptune hugs me from behind. I can feel the smoothness of her skin._

_"I wanna wash your back!"_

_"Sure. I'm down with that…" I reach over to another towel. I gave it and soap for her to work with._

_"I don't need to remind you… but it would be best, if you don't do what you did the first time you washed my back…"_

_"It's okay! This isn't one of those scenes since it's a flashback!"_

_"I don't get it at the same time I do. But oh well… As long as you understand…" it'd be really weird to have those scenes while in a flash back._

_"Anyway, scrub, scrub~~" she lightly sings in tune while she scrubs my back._

_Scrubbing my arms torso, and legs. I make sure that I'm a clean passerby that smell like flowers and sunshine. Well, not really but you get the idea._

_"Jar-Jar's back is really wide!" kid-Compa said from bathtub._

_"Jaweed is wide? He's fat?" lightning hits me from Peashy's words._

_"Gh…!" am I really getting fat!? I am doing my daily routines, but is it not enough? Should I square my usual running distance? Should I double my crunches?_

_"There, there…" Neptune pets my head, while scrubbing. Are you sympathizing!?_

_"Okay, all done! Now, scrub me!" Neptune demands._

_"Alright, alright… Head over here…" taking the soap and the towel, Neptune sits in front of me, humming. I rub the soap making a nice lather and scrub her back with it._

_"Hmm~… Hmm~…"_

_"That looks fun! Let's get scrubbed!" Peashy said as she gets off from the tub._

_"I want Nep-Nep to scrub my back too!" kid-Compa runs off as well._

_"Mhm!" kid-Iffy agrees._

_"Nepu! Are we making _that!?"

_"That_?_"_

_"_That!? _You know, where we make a back scrub-ception!"_

_"Oh… that… like a forming a train huh…" now that I think about it, it's serene sight._

_"Hey, you three… get in line and scrub the one in front of you… here's some soap…"_

_All three kids fall in line in front of my wife-to-be. Before her was Peashy, then kid-Compa and lastly kid-Iffy. Neptune takes a towel from me, and scrubbed it on our yellow haired girl's back. Peashy takes a soap and scrub it on kid-Compa's back as well as her, on kid-Iffy's back._

_*SCRUB!* *SCRUB!* *SCRUB!* *SCRUB!*_

_"Scrub~~… Scrub~~… Scrub~~…" they hum as they scrub._

_"This is fun!" Peashy said._

_"Mhm. Its fun scrubbing other people!" kid-Compa agrees._

_"Compa here's a towel for you" I gently threw the towel to kid-Compa. Since I'm done making Neptune's back clean as a whistle._

_"Don't scrub at the same spot, alright?"_

_"Okay!" she uses the towel to rub kid-Iffy's back._

_Scooping up a water from the tub with the dipper, I pour it over Neptune's head after I warned her. I then, pour some shampoo on my hand and rub it on her hair until I get the bubbles covering her lilac hair. It's comical to see her having a white afro… I pour some more water over hair and rub in conditioner for softness sake._

_*SPLASH!*_

_"Jared…" she turns her head to look at me._

_"Yeah?"_

_"Mmm… *Smack!*…" she steals a kiss from me._

_"Cheeky woman…" it is adorable though._

* * *

_"I want Neptuna's pudding! I want to eat Neptuna's pudding!"_

_"No can do, kiddo. It's mine! See? I wrote 'Nep' on it" Neptune doesn't want to give her already opened pudding to her._

_*HRRRRRRRRR!*_

_"Don't be greedy _and _bother others…" kid-Iffy scolds on her._

_"And you come back here… your hair is still dripping wet…"_

_After a bath, it's time to dry off some hair by the living area, since the changing room doesn't have a plug to plug in the hair dryer. Men doesn't have a problem with since our hair's shorter and water would get sucked by the bath towel. Women has this problem, and especially little girls. First was Neptune, then next was Peashy, I'm doing kid-Compa's hair now, and kid-Iffy is scolding Peashy._

_-Also the first 2 are now fully clothed while the last are still strutting around wrapped in a towel._

_*HRRRRRR!*_

_"I put yours in the fridge for you, Pea-pea…" kid-Compa said in between the noises of the hair dryer and the commotion. I'll let those 2 be since I'm preoccupied._

_"No, I want Nep's!"_

_"Why? We bought the exact same ones, right down to the expiration dates…" that is true. The afternoon was shopping has 2 plastic bags full of pudding and sweets._

_"That's not the point, Sis. It's yours, so she wants that one" Nepgear explains. Which I still do not understand._

_"It must have to do with the big smile you get when you eat it._ (*^▽^*)_" whoa! Histy made an appearance!_

_"Is that so? Nep Jr. Grab me a pen…" Neptune asks her little sister._

_Nepgear looks inside the drawer of the TV stand and goes through the junk inside for a pen. Finding one that works, she gave it to her sister._

_Taking it, Neptune opens the fridge and took out a 6 more puddings from it. She puts them on the counter that separates the kitchen and the living area. Taking one out of the six, she scribbles something with the pen that her little sister gave her… I see… Neptune is sweet…_

_*Scribble* *Scribble*_

_"Check it, P-ko! This one's also labeled 'Nep's' pudding!" she showed her the label on the seal._

_"Whooa! It's Nep's pudding!" she said with glee as she takes it. She rips open the seal right away, take the included spoon and started annihilating the dessert._

_"*Nom* *Nom* *Nom*"_

_"Whoo! You're making a mess! Calm down when you eat…"_

_"Is it tasty, Peashy?" Nepgear asks her little girl sweetly._

_"It's tasty! Nep's pudding is tasty!" she said with pudding smeared around her mouth._

_*HRRRRR!*_

_"*Sigh*… Compa, can ya get some for me and everyone else while I do Iffy's hair…" I stop hair drying kid-Compa's hair while Iffy takes her seat in front of me._

_"Okay!" Wearing her blouse that is waiting on the sides she takes the rest of the puddings and distributes them to all of us._

_From that day on, there were always two puddings labeled "Nep's" in the fridge._

_"Goodness! That's was my line… now I have nothing to say…"_

_"Oh, sorry, sorry, Nepgear. I'll make it up to you next time…"_


	119. Chapter 119

Chapter 119:

_There was this sort of feeling that has been swirling around my chest recently. It blooms like a fresh sun flower as the sun has risen. Maybe this feeling of mine is just an illusion. A figment of my ingenious mind's imagination. Maybe its bait from Eris and she's just showing me the golden apple of discord… Hrm… my train of thought is heading towards obscureness…_

_Case in point: What is this strange feeling of furor inside my stomach from just buying this white box?_

_"Hrmm… Good thing those 3 are taking their time…" picking up a present is hard after all. But it proves useful to me since I'm able to get right down to the bottom of this._

_Today is a special event for the yellow haired one. A day that I nearly thought it was a day too early, because time always skips a beat upon us learning its rhythm. For obvious reasons, I have bought something special to celebrate such an event for the child. And those three, Neptune, Nepgear and Plutie promised to meet me here at the food court of the mall by 3 pm. It's already quarter to 5…_

_"And those other 3 are also taking their own time getting here…" is there traffic in airspace that they can't avoid?_

_"Anyway… back to this…" I stare at the white box that is sitting on the table across me._

_If anything, any one would have noticed that I have always been thinking about the kiddies these past few days. And no, my sanity is still intact. Probably. I do spend time with Neptune whenever we have time for ourselves, and everyone knows I love her very, very much. But most of the time we're out there either playing with those tykes or raising them._

_It's come to a point where I'm starting to think 'What should I do with this girl to make her future a bit more brighter?'. That question never really pass by before all this, once upon a time. But it does certainly show how much of those kids have grown very dearly to me. Maybe because I have facilitated their growth from 2 year old to today._

_I'm no father, and maybe I'll become one in the future, but is this one of those feelings of excitement that pushes fathers through the daily grind?_

_"Jared!" I hear a certain cheery voice._

_"Woah… You're going to break my back if you keep doing these surprise attacks on me…" she hugs me from behind with a force of a wrestler to pin their opponent._

_"Geez, you bully! I'm not getting heavy!" she declared._

_"All right, all right… You're still the same old cute Neptune that I always love with no bias…*kiss*" I kiss her on the cheek since it's just tempting to do so._

_"Anyway, done with your shopping?" letting go, which makes me a tad lonely, I ask her afterwards as I turn to them. I noticed that they're carrying boxes wrapped in décor and tied together with a ribbon._

_"Mhm, we got everything ready for a big surprise" Nepgear said._

_"We're going to make Peashy so happy!"_

_"Mhm! That little tyke won't know what's coming for her!" I thought I was asking about the presents they bought. Oh well… if it goes well I don't mind at all._

_Standing up, I take the white box on one hand and hold Neptune's hand with the other. This has always been a routine for us, since we can't flirt all the time. That if we get a small chance to ourselves, we'll hold hands just for the sake of it. With bit of giggle from her, we head back to Planeptower thinking of a way to smuggle in this and presents without the celebrant knowing._

* * *

_"Twist, twist, twist, twist… Twist, twist, twist, twist…"_

_Upon returning home, the celebrant is sprawled on the floor and her hand, holding a crayon, colors something on a piece of paper. The other two are playing by themselves a few paces away from her. And since no one is looking at us, I figure we should use this opportunity to our advantage._

_Signaling the others to give me their presents, they headed towards the celebrant making sure that she doesn't look at my way and notice a giant white box about to hide inside the fridge. I hide the presents in the cupboard under the sink. Okay, smuggling complete. Now I don't know what to do…? I guess I can play a bit before the party starts._

_"What're you doing, P-ko?" Neptune asks the girl, as I head over and take a peek myself._

_"Hwaa! Stop! You can't see this!" the girl flips the paper and runs away to the corner. A clear message that she doesn't want anyone to look._

_"You can't look, Neptuna!" she hides the paper behind her back._

_"Mm! When you say that, it makes me want to look even more" I know the guilty feeling Neptune._

_"Do not interrupt her. She has been hard at work since this morning. _（・∀・）_" __mini-Histy appeared._

_"Now that's exciting…"_

_"Really? Dang. P-ko's working hard on something? Makes me want to see it really bad!" Neptune has sparkles as eyes._

_"No means no!" Peashy is absolutely rejecting the idea of it._

_"Peashy, can I look…?" Plutie asked._

_"You can't either, Ploot!"_

_"How about me? Can I look?" I ask her._

_"Jaweed can't look!"_

_"Maybe I could…?"_

_"_Definitely _not you, Nepgear!"_

_"She said _definitely _not me…" the scales have fallen before her eyes._

_Peashy returns to coloring her paper with her crayon on hand. Since she has her back turned, we creep over to her trying to take a peek of what she's doing._

_"I am telling you all to refrain from disturbing her. _（・∀・;）_" __she stops us._

_"She wouldn't show us, either" kid-Iffy said as she approached us._

_"Pea-Pea is being mean" kid-Compa is sad. I pet their heads._

_"She does not intend to be mean. Please give her a little more time. _(^ ^)_"_

_"When you talk like that, it sounds like you know what she's drawing" Nepgear speculates._

_"Mhm. I took a very tiny peek a while ago. _(^∀ ^)_" she blushes as she answers._

_"No fair! I wanna see it, too!" Neptune's excitement is seeping out of her body._

_"Me too, me too…!" Plutie raised her hand._

_*Scribble* *Scribble*_

_"There! All done!" the girl rises from the floor and raises the drawing into the air._

_"Really…? Can we see it now?" Plutie asked. Now my heart is thumping really hard._

_"Sure. Here!" with the paper still flipped, she offered it to us._

_Taking the paper, I flip it to show for all the world to see an obscure drawing using just crayons. Let's see, there's the color purple, the color black, the color brown, oh, a small person on a book. The color green… and wait… it's us…? _

_"Oh, it's… uh… What is it?" Neptune cocks her head in confusion._

_"Eh? You don't know, Neptuna?" Peashy's disappointed voice struck us like a knife to the heart._

_"This is _us, _Neptune. It is a beautiful picture of us all! _(Д;)_"_

_"Us, huh? Hoooh! The one in the middle with purple hair is me, right?"_

_"Sure is. And that dude beside you must be me…" this really heartwarming picture._

_"Mhm! It's Neptuna and Jaweed!"_

_"I'm there too, and that's Neppy Jr., and that's Iffy, and Compa, and tiny little Histy, too…" Plutie points every time she calls out a name._

_"And there's Noire, Blanc and Vert as well… she included the whole cast…"_

_"Thank goodness. I was worried the punchline would be that I wasn't in it or something" in this heartwarming scene? No one would dare, Nepgear._

_"Hmph. If you're going to draw me, try a little harder" kid-Iffy is becoming like Noire._

_"Don't be rude. Thank you, Pea-Pea. This makes me really happy"_

_"It's a lovely drawing… You tried so hard, didn't you?" Plutie pets the child's head._

_"Mhm. This picture has tons of character!" Neptune comments._

_"Good job, Peashy…" I also pet her head. We all have big smiles plastered on our faces._

_"Ehehe. All of you can have it" _

_"Really?" Neptune asks._

_"Mhm!" she smiles, clearly proud of her work._

_"I see. Thanks! I'll toss this up on the fridge!" Neptune takes the picture off of me and headed to the fridge to pin it with magnets._

_*Tap!* *Tap!*_

_Looking by the balcony, it seems the remaining 3 has arrived. All three has boxes decorated that is being held together by a ribbon. Nepgear nods at me, telling me that I should initiate the plan myself. I stand and headed towards the switch, pretending to go to the bathroom for a quick release. I look behind the counter and Neptune got everything ready._

_I raise my hand and switch off the lights._

_*THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!*_

_"Ow Vert! You're stepping on me!"_

_"Oh sorry Blanc…"_

_"Neptu-! Whoa!"_

_"Nepu! Where should I put this? I can't see shank!"_

_"U-Uwaa! What's happening?"_

_"Ssh… you're going to see…"_

_"That's why…huh?" I feel something soft pressing against my hand._

_"Kyaah!"_

_"Whoah!" I dodge out of pure instinct. Thanks instinct!_

_"There! I got it! Where are the matches, though?"_

_"I've got it right here Sis… Goodness! I almost tripped!"_

_"Ooh! Gimme them! And we'll light this baby up!"_

_*SCRATCH!* *SCRATCH!* *SCRATCH!* *SKKKSH!*_

_The flame lights dimly. Revealing a simple message on a simple present for an extraordinary child. The child herself stares. A face struck with pure bewilderedness, revealing under the flames' light. We all give smiles, wishing many happy returns. _

_"Ehe…!" _

_The girl smiles back, as though thanking. Her smile shines brightly. The dark room, do little to hide it. A moment of picturesque, imprints in our heart. An innocent moment, untouched by the rowdiness of the world. Where our feelings are shown in the coasting retirement of childhood._

_"Happy Birthday, Peashy!"_

_…A moment where our feelings are shown in our smiles._


	120. Chapter 120

Chapter 120:

"And that's the plan you two…"

"Mhm! It's simple easy peashy!"

"We can do it!" Neptune and Plutie high-fived.

Nighttime. Inside Plutie's room. Sitting on the floor we're all planning our way towards a sure fire way to make Peashy, our troublemaker, to come back to us. They've already made some plans of their own from the fact on the child's sudden slip-up. And they noticed that assaulting her with events of the past does the trick. I just needed to add more to it, and that was it.

"The only complication is how time…"

"Why?" Plutie asked.

"We've already spent today to rest our aching bodies. Meaning, Anonydeath has enough time to reseal her memories… and make another generator of sorts…" although the generator part is skeptical. The former is quite easy to do in under a day. Although I doubt that arse won't do a complete seal.

"…So then…"

"I'm not saying anything, Plutie. Only is…" I choose my next words.

"…make sure that you do thorough job. We only have one shot at this…" they nodded.

"Okay? I'll explain the rest of the plan tomorrow during our trip… for now, get some sleep…" the three of us stand. Giving my wife-to-be a quick goodnight kiss, they climb to their bed as I headed to the door.

"Oh yeah… we're going to leave at…" I think up of a good time.

"10… yeah, that's a good time…" reaching the door, I turn off the lights…

"Goodnight you two…"

"Goodnight Jared…" they chorused. I turn the knob to exit…

"Jared…" Neptune call out.

"Yeah?" I turn to look at her.

"The moon is beautiful tonight, isn't it?" I look out of the window. The mistress moon, shines brilliantly.

"It sure is…" replying those sweet words to me, I make my exit.

Making my way to the dark living room, that is only illuminated by the lights of Planeptune's night life. I crouch down to my bag and unseal the zipper. Rummaging through my garments, I found my 93R Beretta. If I remember right, I don't have my tomahawk anymore since it was missing and I couldn't find the damn thing.

"Fine, fine… I'll use the kitchen knife…" anything works as long as I can cut.

Heading to the kitchen, I pull out a knife from the stand. Oh, I got a Turning Knife, nice. It's easier to pick out the things I need. Hiding the knife inside my pocket, I pull the slide and check that a bullet is loaded. I release the magazine, and seeing that there still bullets to fire off, I slide it in.

"Okay… I'm off then…" with everything prepared I head to the elevator.

* * *

After searching through more than a whole life's worth of knowledge, literally speaking, I've found the 'cure' to the formula given to her. Since the formula was incomplete, it was hard to simulate every possibility in each combination I know. Since after all, an incomplete medicine does wonders to your body. If I were to miss something, gawd knows what is going to her brain.

Furthermore, the fact that he knew my formula was slowing my research down quite a bit. There are many possibilities to know those 'kinds'. But mainly, the most probable way, boils down to one thing. Someone shared it. I don't want to think of 'that' possibility, it makes me sick in the stomach and my bloodlust would rise. And I wanted to confirm it by talking to that 'guy'. But with all the things that is happening right now, I don't have the time to that luxury.

"Okay… 3 out of 7…" I mumbled as I put an 'ingredient' in my pocket. I stand from my spot and walk through the forest under the mistress moon's guidance. If anything it keep me company from doing this.

"It's a good thing no monsters are coming out to eat me alive…"

In the forest, I look for the things I need. There are actually 15 things I need. I can find the 8 of the things I need at some store that is open for 24/7, since it's convenient. The rest of the things I need needs to be absolutely handpicked thoroughly. That's why I'm here in the forest right now finding those.

"Hrm… oh what do we have here…" I check on a candidate ingredient.

"Nah…" I stand. Too bad though…

Moving on from that, I start walking to where my search would come to an end early. It's really late now and I need to go to sleep, I can't do my job well tomorrow if I don't sleep well tonight. Heck, I have to make this stuff and it's going to take me an hour tops. Plus I have to get the 'gardening' tools ready as well. Geez…

"*Sigh*…And I thought I was on vacation…" this isn't how I planned my vacation though.

Roaming through the forest, I found another potential candidate ingredient. Taking out the Turning Knife, I cut it from the receptacle and squeeze out its juices for quick taste test.

"Hrm…This is quite good…" looking around, I found a bunch more of these. The temptation of getting them all slowly tickles my heart. But I don't have a bag and I'm putting them all in my pocket.

"I'll take what I can carry…"

* * *

"*Sigh*… It's already 2 in the morning…" I put my phone back in my pocket.

2 in the morning, and I'm walking back to home. The last 3 items were such a pain to find. Especially the 6th one, since the 'freshest' one, had grown on a side of a cliff. I swear, the line between vacation and work is slowly blurring before my very own eyes.

"If this is what I'll do during my honeymoon… I'd rather stay at the comfort of my bed…" that'd be bad for my relationship though.

*SQZZ!*

"…!" I stop walking and asses the flash of static scenery that just happened.

*SQZZ!* *SQZZ!* *SQZZ!*

"Not this shit again…! Gh! My head…!" the headaches didn't stop but grew in intensity.

*SQZZ!* *SQZZ!* *SQZZ!*

"Gh…!" the pain in my head rises significantly. I hold my head in one hand trying to resist it.

*SQZZ!* *SQZZ!* *SQZZ!*

"Guh!" as though it was playing a percussion instrument, the static images beat in rhythm. It drums my head like it was playing a rock song.

*SQZZ!* *SQZZ!* *SQZZ!*

"_Haa… haa…_" I lean on a tree and fall on my knees trying to catch my breath in between the waves of pain.

*SQZZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZ!*

"HnnnnnngGH! GUAH!" but it doesn't give me a damn break. The immeasurable pain blinds me of anything around me. My senses are all concentrated on this single source right about now.

*SQZZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZ!*

In waves, the scenery before me collapses and reconstructs. As though it was an old television screen with bad reception. Static fields pop in and out, as though it was finding the right signal. My vision became unstable, as though the image showing to me is about to collapse in and of itself. And like an old film, the image flings upwards followed by the same one below it.

*SQZZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZ!*

"…!"

Translation: You…!

And with frame changing, with each image collapsing and reconstructing, with each static that appears, slowly, a figure is slowly being drawn. With each frame it slowly forms, basking under the moonlight, watching me struggle. A black being, a shadow. It stands before me, hollowly. What seems like the head, has 2 holes, probably its eyes. On near it chin is a hole cut into crescent moon opening upwards representing a smile.

"…!" my headaches stop the moment I recognize the figure.

Standing up, I face the shadow. The smile broadens, ear-to-ear. A smile that reminds me more of 'him'. I 'stare' at the figure head on. Condemning it to the pits. An old blood runs through my veins, pours my heart with blood lust. A distant memory catches up to me, the possibility of history repeating dominate my mind. Taking my turning knife and my gun, I speak to the figure that is highlighted by the moon…

"…"

Translation: You will die…


	121. Chapter 121

Chapter 121:

*SQZ!*

*SWING!* *THUNK!

"Huh…?"

The shadow disappeared.

I was able to corner the thing to a tree. And just as my knife was almost about to cut off its head, the thing disappeared as though he was never here. The turning knife, which I swung with the intent to behead someone, is now stuck on the tree trunk. With some few twists, I was able to pull it out.

"Tch…!" dammit!

"…And I've wasted enough time dealing with that thing…" but that thing is also just as important.

"That shadow… is definitely…" no… I can't draw conclusions just from feeling alone. I'll be running like a headless chicken if I do.

"But I can't pass it off as a coincidence either…" the formula; that smile; and the Seven's level of planning detail… This isn't some coincidence…

"…Kh… for now, I don't have anything solid to go for…" and there is also 'that' possibility.

"*Sigh*…" I let out my breath. Trying to calm myself down…

"…I need to go home…" if I stay here any longer, I won't be able to save our problem child. And a certain woman would kill me…

With my eyes reverted back to normal and my heart beating in a stable rhythm, I put away my 'toys' and head back to Planeptune…

Well, today is going to be a rough day anyway, so I won't be able to avoid it. Now I just need to buy my 'gardening' tools and the rest of the ingredients…

_Big Brother…_

"Hrm…" I stop and turn around to look at the dense forest… they greet me darkly.

"…my imagination?"…maybe… maybe not…

"…" I leave…

* * *

I like how quiet our home is when we actually have nothing to do. Even when our yellow haired girl was here, she isn't dense enough not to read the mood. And in reality of it, we actually have more moments when we are just playing quietly than we do not. Because of that however, we take for granted of these peaceful things. Not just peace and quiet mind you, but, for example, kids who are now ambitious thinks, after graduation, it would still be the same old routine. But life is cruel and the reality is, it's always hard work everywhere.

Moral of the story: Struggling leads to preserving our daily wants and needs. Peace and quiet are only granted to those when they paid back their debts in full. But…

"It seems I haven't paid back my debt yet…*SIIIP!*" my debt collector is always late…

"WHOA! Been a while, buddy! You're as tiny as ever, too! Eating right? Here's rice!" the robot shouts, also it's not me he's talking about. He's talking to the rat…

"Damn chu! You just get louder and louder. I'm still recovering, so don't shout in my ear, chu" the rat complains.

Returning home after I made my preparations for today's grand party. I was greeted, not my wife-to-be, nor my little sister-in-law to-be, nor Plutie, nor mini-Histy, nor Iffy, nor even Compa's improved cooking, arguably though they are done eating breakfast, what greeted me was… the loudest motherfucker ever. I wish I had ear mufflers to muffle out the sounds that is damn robot emanates. Although, I do like him since he's cool and all, but c'mon... the scales are falling before my eyes.

For one, everyone is gathered around the dining room. Of course, I'm taking a seat with Neptune beside me since I haven't eaten anything yet. This is Compa's dish by the way…

Wait… how in the hell did he even get to the dining room without creating a calamity?

"*Sigh*…This is bad for my complexity…" how am I going to eat breakfast in peace…

"Jared, Aaah…" Neptune, with bacon on a fork, offered it to me.

"Aaah… Mgm… Oh, this is some pretty nice bacon…" I praise.

"Mhm, nothing beats bacon! Except for pudding!" she exclaimed. Since I can see that she wants to comfort me, I offer her a spoonful of my share as well.

"This is no time to act friendly! You knew. You knew what was happening and still did it!" our child-savior Abnes does not know when to accuse someone. There is a time and place for everything right…

"You kidnapped children and then forced them to try and be CPUs! I don't forgive child abuse!"

"Who briefed her on that?" I whispered to my wife-to-be. We didn't actually told her our discovery 10 years ago since we all knew that she'd charge in on a newly established Eden.

"Hrr? Hrm…? I think it was Nep Jr…" Neptune is unsure of her answer. I try to find Nepgear, but she's at the kitchen making tea with mini-Histy. Well, since we're talking about Nepgear here, her reasoning must be along the lines of:

"_She asked us years ago and it would be rude if she didn't know our current situation…_"

"I see…" well it won't do any of us harm.

"Hahaha! Don't grumble about the past! People will thing you're petty!" no she will not.

"I'm not talking about the past! This event is ongoing! Present progressive tense!"

"Objection! In each verb you use, you added an 'ed' at the end! That is not how present progressive tense works! Therefore your argument is invalid!" I join in on the riot.

"I don't care about that! They're doing it! And I won't forgive them!"

"True. I did commit crimes in my past… BUT! Now I am living a proper life on the straight and narrow!" see? This robot is way too funny...

"YES! So long as people are alive, they can improve themselves! Life is wonderful!" I totally agree!

"I said! Knock off the noise, the both of ya, chu!" shut up rat…

"They're all such good friends…" Plutie said.

"Having good friends is such a wonderful thing… Ah… mgmh…" I eat another offering from Neptune.

"How does _this_ look like we're friends!? He's my enemy! The enemy of all the world's kids!"

"Yesterday's enemy is today's best buddy! We're all here to love and support one another!" see?! This robot dude can say the best lines!

"Hey, I thought we brought them back so we could learn where the Seven Sages' main base is" Noire said.

"Did we need three of them to accomplish that?" Vert asked.

"But it's so sad when someone is left out and can't play…" Plutie argued.

"…I think she means that we only need the rat, since he squeals with no effort" Blanc translated.

"You're really underestimating me if you think I'll leak any more info than I already have, chu!"

"But you told us before when I ask nicely…" Compa said.

"Um, well, if my angel asks something of me, I can't refuse, chu" I don't know why, but the urge to torture this rat is tickling my heart…

"You're pathetic…" commented Abnes.

"By the way, who bought the robot here?" I ask.

"…It's me…" Blanc answered.

"…We repaired him. Its standard practice for castles like mine to have robots serving tea…" your standards are now questionable…

"Um, everyone, I brought some tea. Oof… It's getting cramped in here, isn't it?" Nepgear squeezes through. The robot is big, after all.

"The Basilicom is unable to accommodate this many. Plus, one of us is rather large…" mini-Histy said.

"Don't ask me how he got into the room!" Neptune disclaims as she offers me another one. Oh well, getting spoiled like this is fine once in a while…

"What do we have here? A dinky little girly! Come sit on my head!" he reaches out towards our fairy friend. I'd like to stop, but Neptune and I are lovingly feeding each other, I can't help myself.

"Pardon? N-No, that is quite all right. I am happy ju-! Aaaah! W|;°□°;|w" whoa… she's pretty high up.

"Woa! Histys has been caught!" Neptune said.

"It's like Godzilla, except it's a robot…" I said.

"Except in this case he is tender enough to pinch her collar" Vert said.

"Hey! No bullying small girls!"

"So, how do you like that? It's a lovely view, isn't it?" the robot said, proud of his tourist attraction.

"No! This is too high! This is frightening! Please put me down, gently!" you're afraid of heights!?

"How nice… I wanna sit up there…"

"Um, Histoire, can't you just fly down…? " Nepgear suggests.

"Not from this high! The air is too thin! Please get me down!"

"…Everyone's doing whatever they want. Aren't you going to take control?" Blanc said.

"Don't make it sound like I'm the bossy one. I don't want anything to do with these people…" Noire retorted.

"It's embarrassing, but being around these loud people is making me all nostalgic, chu…"

"Everyone, stop it!" a loud stern voice echoed in the room.

"Eh? Iffy…" Compa is genuinely shocked.

"…Noire-II makes her appearance" Blanc comments.

"Don't say that" Noire said.

"Don't you get the situation!? We need to go and get Peash back as soon as possible!" Iffy reminds us, clearly putting out her frustration that we're doing nothing but goof off.

"But that's exactly _why _we gotta be silly little ducks!" Neptune shouts back, right after she just fed me with bacon.

"I don't want to be _Anas Platyrhynchos_"

"Eh? Nep…"

"It's okay. We're all really worried about Peashy…" Plutie reassures her as she pets her head.

"That is why we musnt't allow ourselves to get too riled up. We must remain level-headed" Vert adds.

"Plus, if we go to her when we're all worked up and angry, it might scare Peashy away" Nepgear adds her own opinion.

"So… you're planning ahead…" her frustration falters.

"Sorry. I kind of lost my cool and yelled at you, huh?"

"Nah, it's okay. Anyone would misunderstand…" I reassure her as I continue to eat.

"It's okay to fail as long as you learn that you failed!"

"Whooa… that's my fiancée for you… Here's the last of my bacon…" clearly proud, I give her a spoonful of my last piece of bacon. I'm done eating anyway…

"Nothing about learning _from _your failure, I see. Not like I expected you inspire anyone" Noire comments.

"Don't worry about a thing! These guy and his gals can do anything they really try!" that's right robot guy.

"….I can't believe how loud you are. How about you shut the hell up?" Blanc is stopping herself from destroying the robot.

"Uuuh… Please get me down…!" standing up, I climb the robot reach to mini-Histy. She clings to my hand for dear life and I put her down on the table.

"_Haa… haa… _The air was thinner… _Haa… haa… _"

"Now, should we mosey? If we stay here much longer, Iffy's gonna get all bent outta size" Neptune said as she stand from her chair.

"I apologized, jeez!"

"We're keeping Peashy waiting, too" Plutie said.

"True, we can't be late for the party after all…"

"It's all well and good for us to get moving but I doubt any of you have a plan" Noire speculates as such.

"We could never lose. But the matter of her memory returning or not lies with you" Vert reminded.

"Bwa-ha-ha. The three of us have a top secret plan for that. We'll definitely get her memories back!" Neptune says proudly.

"…A fool's confidence?" Blanc asks.

"It's not… apparently…" I answer her.

"That's right. I was wondering what that bag is for…" Nepgear points to a bag in the living area.

"Hehehe… Please look forward to it…" Plutie said.

"Excuse me, everyone! I have a request!" we all turn to Compa who raised her hand.

"Hmm? Whassup?" Neptune asked.

"Take me and Compa along. We won't hold you back!" Iffy said.

"Sure? I know that you're experienced Iffy, but I'm worried about Compa…" it's not that I think she can't handle herself.

"We're sure…"

"Besides, if someone gets hurt, I can heal them since I'm a nurse!" well we do need a healer.

"Fine… you can come…" I allowed.

"Yippee! Thank you!" Compa celebrates.

"I think it's dangerous and we shouldn't, but since the others are okay with it. It's fine…"

If you two are with us, then Peashy will listen. I just know it…" baseless confidence from Plutie. But that's what we need the most right now.

"You'll have to protect yourselves. Is that understood?" Vert reminded them.

"Yeah. I know!"

"Great! Let's roll out! P-ko recovery mission, GO!"

"Oooooh!"


	122. Chapter 122

Chapter 122:

"…My gawd… I should have done this years ago…" but that'd be really stupid of me to go in with no luck of success.

Walking towards the Basilicom with a violin case on hand, I heave a complaint to myself. Well, for the most part, I really don't want to risk it. If there was blueprint that was released then maybe I could have known where the security room is or generators or whatever. Sadly, the guys that I 'talked' to, was also not proficient with the whole of the Basilicom. Thanks to the rat again, we have found another path going inside the base. But it's locked and the rat says that the 3rd floor of Basilicom handles the security on doors, since they're tasked to validate each person coming and out of the place. As for Anonydeath, there is nothing I can do, since he's located somewhere else.

…The plan is as simple as it gets: Just raise a lot of hell… Haha, the things I do for love…

The gates come close with each step I make. It seems there is a crowd heading inside doing their own business, and it's making my job a lot easier. I steal glances at the guards on the gates. There are 2, guarding the narrow entry way to the Basilicom. Seems their not that keen to inspecting the people's belongings. It's in these kinds of carelessness that sometimes a nation falls from that, but nation's downfall is the least of their worries, right?

"…"

After passing the guards I follow the crowd towards the front yellow tinted doors of the Basilicom. There are also guards here, and seems they are not doing their job as a security as well. They stare at us blankly not minding the fact that one of us might be carrying around a gun. Seems peaceful times dulls the blade…

Inside, there's a reception at the end of the lobby, taking the space in the middle. On the left side, there's an entry way, and on the right there's another entry way presumably towards the toilet. The rest of the place are just a bunch of steel benches for people to wait for their number to be called by the reception. There are a number of guards here, 13 on the ground floor. Up top, behind the big monitors is a terrace that looks gives a bird-eye view, with 2 guards with snipers.

"Sir… sir…"

"Hrm?" looking to a voice that is calling out to me, is giving me what seems like a card of sorts…

"Sir…?"

"Ah, sorry… What is it?"

"Here is your number sir…" she raised her hand that's holding a card. The number 37 is engraved on it.

"I see… Thanks miss…" I take the card.

"But would you mind if I tell you something…?" I ask her.

"Yes…?"

"Get out of here as fast as you can…"

"Eh?"

*SKSSSSSSHHHH!*

Dropping the violin case, opening due to shock it automatically releases smoke, covering myself inside it. The terrified screams of the people inside the Basilicom have risen to decibels to that of a howler monkey. I can also hear large heavy footsteps, it's probably Eden's forces taking position. Without wasting anymore time, I crouch down and empty the contents of my violin case, taking the P90, 2 magazines on my pocket, and combat knife.

The footstep are getting louder, seems they've entered the smoke. In this situation, they should have just surrounded the smoke and not get caught inside it. As it will cause you your vision. Guess it shows that they haven't been doing much training lately. I also can't see in this smoke, so I'm relying on my memory from earlier.

I run to the where the left passage is. Through the smoke, I see a figure about to form. It looks left and right, probably trying to zero in on where my footsteps are. Reversing the hold of my knife, I run closer to the figure…

"Hey cap…Hgh!"

As he was about to speak through his com, his eyes falls onto me through the smoke. He points his rifle at me, I parry it by using my P90. With a shocked locked on his face I stab his neck. Then, I pull his body closer, and reposition my sub-machine gun on his gut and fire a few round.

*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*

"Gh!" he falls lifeless on the ground.

"Shots fired! Shots fired!" one of the men through the smoke shouts.

Hearing footsteps heading closer to me, I notice that the smoke is slowly dissipating. I'm a dead man if I don't get out of the lobby. Making a break for it, I notice to more figures about to emerge as I get closer. They're both at half-a-meter side-by-side.

Running to the guy on the left, I speculated where in his vest where his grenade might be. I got up close to him without his anticipation and pierce the knife straight through from his jaw. I quickly point my sub-machine gun at the guy, which I can barely make out due to the smoke, on the right and fired.

*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*

"Kah…"

Remembering this guy, I pull his grenade and quickly threw it to two more guards that are standing on the passage on left.

*BOOM!*

"Kuhaaa…!"

"…"

Pulling out my knife from this guy's jaw, I lunge myself towards the cleared up passage way. I make my way towards the passage, quickly getting out of the slowly dissipating smoke. At the end of the hall, I'm met with a glass door. I point my gun at it…

*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*

Firing a few rounds, I jump and use my back to break through the glass. I roll on the floor and recovered myself from the other side. Quickly looking around, I found out that there two hallways that I need to go through. I quickly remember what the rat said to me over the phone:

"_Chu… then go right, there's going to be a lobby with elevators, chu…_" I spring my body into action and run to the right hall.

*STEP!* *STEP!* *STEP!* *STEP!*

"Tch…!" in front of me are a bunch of soldiers going heading for the opposite direction. There are exactly 4 men. The 2 on the front falls on one knee and takes aim and so does the other 2. I throw the knife as they fire…

*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*

"Gh…" the knife hits a guy on the head.

I head straight to an opening on the right, I fire from cover, spraying them with bullets since they're still firing. Looking around for a bit, I found a fire extinguisher. With the label saying dry powder, I take it off of the bracket. I pull the pin out, point the nozzle, and squeeze the lever…

*SKSSH!* *SKSSH!* *SKSSSSSSSSHHHHHHH!*

"Kh…! He's using it as smoke…"

"We've got the intruder in hall 2! we've the intruder in hall 2!" damn reinforcements are coming.

I keep squeezing the lever until the gauge on the tank says it is completely empty. Leaving the hall in a smoking demise. I get off from cover and run towards the 3 with my gun ready to fire.

*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*

"What…!? Gh…!" one of them falls down…

Getting out of the smoke, I run to the 2 remaining. They take aim, as I get nearer to them, I pick up my knife from the one I had thrown before. With both of them taking aim, I raise my foot and hook in the guy on the right's leg, falling on one knee. I parry the aim of the guy on the right and take aim at his head as I swing my knife on the neck of the other one.

*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*

They both fall lifelessly on the ground.

"*Sigh*…" heaving a sigh, to relieve myself for a bit, I run towards straight through the hall.


	123. Chapter 123

Chapter 123:

*TING!*

*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*

"Typical…" I'm not _that _stupid...

Watch the arrays of bullets fly towards a victim in the elevator from the shaft above it. If anyone said that it's just some movie shit, it's not. While most other elevator companies don't have one, there are still some that have those hatches above. It does help with the maintenance… Anyway, back to this, so the guards are wasting their bullets for a good amount of seconds before they realized were firing their comrade inside, tied like a pig ready to slaughter.

"Shit! Stop firing! It's one of ours!" one of the soldiers tells them to stop… Oh finally…

Two men approach the body, with pity in him, they put try to put him down. With my prediction now correct, I pull out a certain pin with my teeth and throw it inside…

"Huh?"

*BOOM!*

Black smoke quickly engulfs my vision for a moment before it disappears as quickly as it appears. Confirming that there are 2 more victims, I throw in another one of those inside.

*BANG!*

A flash came by, followed by a loud deafening noise. I jump down and exit the elevator with speed. I quickly registered 4 guys, stunned, to take down. I get to the nearest one, hold his rifle and pull him in to be stabbed through the chest. I take his side arm from the holster and shoot the guy behind him. Then, I raise my foot kick the dead body to the 3rd one. He couldn't regain his senses from the flashbang and allowed dead weight to be on top of him. I threw the knife immediately after to the 4th on the head. Then walking casually to take my knife back, I shot the 3rd on one the head before he had time to talk…

"…3rd floor, finally…"

I'm almost running late. The elevator that I was on before the one that I used a while ago, was forced to make a quick stop at the second floor, and had to waste all of my bullets on the idiots. Since it was a hall with 6 elevators I wanted to use another, but life isn't so simple, since they disabled them for me, and had to look for another one to get myself here. This Basilicom does not have the word 'stairs' in its dictionary. With that said however, that particular elevator was bait. But I managed it quite fine…

Looting the guys that I killed, I get some grenades and flashbangs. Then find some magazines for the .45 that I just borrowed.

I make a break for it at the hall to the right. Those dudes doesn't know where I am, but the only ones that know are the guys at the security room. So communication lag occurs. Of course, it's obvious by now that I'm aiming at that room. They'll likely set up a trap for me…

"If that's the case then…" I need more than just grenades…

Before rounding a corner, I hug the wall and peek at the both directions. The direction to the right seems clear but on the left isn't. It seems there are some soldiers heading straight to my direction. Haven't they already guessed that I'm not some ordinary guy, I'm a passerby dammit. They probably need to rethink their strategy…

Stepping back a few, I take out the pin from my grenade and throw it on the wall bouncing it towards them.

*TING!* *TING!*

"Gre-!"

*BOOOOM!*

With the grenade's explosion, some of them were blown away pass me. I gave the soldier dudes mercy kills and make a break for the hall on the right. There are cameras through this hall, monitoring my movements. Their probably sending every man to intercept with my attempt at the security room. There's a hall that's going to the left about a few meters now. I hug the wall and peek in from the corner…

"Hrm…"

Okay… so we got a squad here, taking a formation in front of a door. If I didn't have the intelligence of the info that the rat ratted out, I'd probably infer that room as the security room. The rat did specifically said that the security room's doors are double glassed door.

Making a pass, I head straight and found a hall that is turning to the left once more. After checking, I follow the hall to the very end and turn to the right again. Damn this place is like a maze! I am just following the rat's instructions here to the letter, but come on. Think about the guys who has to pass through these halls every day.

I hug the corner of the hall and peek. And there it is, double glassed doors to the security room. The inside is dark with only the monitors displaying everything in and out of this place. From where I'm standing I can't seem to see the guys inside. They must be hiding and think that they can get me with a surprise attack.

I head towards the doors still crouching. I push it open a little and saw a wire at the bottom running across the doors. Following it with my eyes, there's a grenade that taped to a wall with the string attached to a wire. Oh, this could be handy...

I open the door fully…

*BOOOOM!*

"Yeah! Beat that fucker!"

"Fuck that you piece of shit!"

"Command we got the intruder, we got the intruder…"

"Woohoo! He's just a kid all right!?"

"Huh? Wait…! Is that…!?"

*BANG!*

"Gh…! My eyes…!"

Successfully throwing the flashbang at them. I run up through the dark smoke and use a terminal as a platform to jump towards one of the guys that I just stunned. My feet lands on his torso, pushing him backwards towards the floor, with my knife upraised, I swing it towards his neck.

"G…"

I pull myself up and ready my gun. There are three more guys to take care off, still disoriented from the flashbang earlier.

*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*

"Shit…! Gh…!"

The last person that I shot jump towards cover. The bullet flew to his knee as he was in the middle of his jump animation. I pull the slider and take a peak if I still have some bullets left, I walk over to the last person manning the security room. He's has tears on his eyes, holding his knee with one hand for dear life, trying to ease the pain that's shooting through him.

"H-hey man… we can talk about this…" I point the gun towards his head.

"I-I have a family… Please don't…!" his eyes have released the flood gates of his tears.

"M-my s-s-son…!" he pulls from his inner pocket a photo…

"H-He's only just 6! Please! He can't live without me!" he begs…

"*Sigh*…" what to do, what to do… I guess, I could…

"…Oh please…" I said coldly…

"…You have a gun on your other hand…"

"Gh…!"

*BANG!*

"Geez… try to be original about these things… It's unconvincing right now…" I talk to the guy I just shot.

Opening my phone, I quickly dialed Neptune, and she immediately picks up.

"_Heyyo! How ya doing!?_"

"Oh I'm fine…The same old passerby as before…" I casually answer my energetic fiancée.

"_Do ya think you can get this hatch open now? I'm sweating, and turning into burnt Nep… and my pudding is melting…_"

"I'm already at the security room anyway… so…"

Heading to one of the terminals, I punch in some code to show me every list of doors that are electronically locked. Naturally, 2nd and ground floors doors are, because of me, and some are on the 3rd floor, thinking that they could bait me to a trap. Navigating through the countless lists of doors, I found two at the very bottom that is labeled as: "Secret1" and "Secret2". Way the go captain obvious, it's so obvious…

"Here…" I unlock both programmatically. Just as the rat says…

"_Oooh! It has steam coming out of it! It's so cool!_" Neptune says over the phone.

"Good. We'll meet up there… Seems there's another path heading to there…" I look at the floor plan on the terminal carefully. So… um… what? I have to go back to ground floor? Dammit…

"_Okay! Be careful out there! Okay…?_" that last word turned into worry full tone.

"Yeah… you too…"

"_Mhm!_"

*BEEP!*

Putting the phone back in my pocket, I give the floor plan one last look, speculating where that asshole would hide. As convenient as it is, the floor plan includes both the Basilicom and the main base that is connected to it via 2 express tunnels. Seems the rat speaks truth…

"Biggest chance is here…" I point to one specific room located on the far end of the main base.

Doing some tinkering to the terminal, seems I can't access that room's camera. Or maybe there isn't one. Well it would be terrible if someone were to see your stacks and stacks of figurines of your idol. One shouldn't judge of course, but it is disturbing.

Looking at the camera on the corner of the security room. I point my gun at it…

*BANG!*


	124. Chapter 124

Chapter 124:

*BNG!* *BNG!* *BNG!* *BNG!*

"Gawd... I wouldn't even call this a base anymore" more a like a complex.

Crawling through the vents isn't what you see in the movies or in games. Remember air vents are made to enable circulation in places where fresh air is out of reach. Therefore, if it intakes air it also intakes particles that comes along with it. That makes the air vents as dusty as hell. And I just washed my clothes as well.

Also crawling into a vent is as noisy as you can get. If the vent is visible in the room you can actually see something bulging from the metal fibers and making sounds from a horror movie or something. Plus there are rivets poking out, scratching through my skin every time.

"It's a good thing that this one is above the ceiling..." that was lucky for me...

Finding light at the end of the long crawl, I peek through the shaft below. From where I'm looking I can see sources of light. It seems to be a room of a kind. I want drop down but it's going to be a long drop and it seems that my drop would create some noise.

"Oh... some dude is taking a smoke..." directly down below was a guy conviniently lighting up his cigar. Guess he wants to smoke to be ventilated out.

"It's not safe for work, you know..." positioning myself on the edge in a sitting position. I push myself off the edge and fall straight down through the small vent that I barely fit me.

"Ggh...!" with my feet landing on his shoulders, he falls down to the floor. I give in a knee on his shoulder and a shin, of my other leg, on his back. I grab his head and twist it violently, breaking his neck.

*CRACK!*

"So smoking does kill a man..."

I give this room a good look and seems that I'm in a server room. There are terminals here displaying a progress bar. Seems they're trying to backup data as part of their security measure if any terrorist or other happens. On one side there's the hallway, probably leading me to one specific point of the base.

Apparently there are three levels in this Basilicom after reading the floor plan back in the security room. The first is the one at top, the Basilicom itself not much to talk about. The second, where I am standing right now, and is a tad below the Basilicom, is a bunker that keeps all data backing up if anything of, for example, what I'm doing happens. And slightly lower than this is the main base.

There is an express tunnel from the Basilicom, and it would have been a lot easier for me, but 'someone' had to just make my life a little harder. So I have to go through here to get to the express tunnel. The real question is just how to get there from the second level? Gawd...

Entering the hallway, I notice a hostile heading towards me from a shadow pocket. The hall isn't well lighted. With a small container box conveniently placed, I slide towards it and hide my presence. Using the metallic floor, I gauge at his distance from me.

*BNG!* *BNG!* *BNG!* *BNG!*

"Man... just what the hell is happening upstairs? They just gave me orders to back up the data and now no one's responding..."

*BNG!* *BNG!* *BNG!* *BNG!*

"I really want to get out of this joint and drink some booz..."

*BNG!* *BNG!* *BNG!* *BNG!*

"And there's this chick in the bar that I've been missing calls with..."

"Why don't you just retire and settle down, life can be so simple at times..."

"Mmgmh!" covering his mouth, I take my knife and slit his neck slowly.

"Mgmmgmhggh!" with the last of his strength slowly decreasing, he stops struggling, and let him fall on the ground dead.

After hiding the body behind the box that I used for cover, I slowly marchon through the hall. It doesn't take long for me to hug the hall. There are 2 rooms on the right, one seems to be a sterilizing room that leads to another afterward. The other one, which is one that I'm approaching right now, a responsible for the sterilization.

Peaking from the entrance, seems this room also serve as a security room as well. There are 2 gaurds here, watching the monitors of anything suspicious while chatting away. Well at least they're probably doing their job properly. With my knife ready, I move in one of them...!

"Gh...!"

"Hold it!"

"Drop it..."

With one guard having the side of his neck stabbed, I quickly bring up my gun towards the other one. Out of instinct however, he takes out his gun and pointed it right me. Oh great, a Mexican standoff.

"Drop the gun! Or I'll shoot you!"

"Are you stupid? There's no way in hell that I'm dropping this..."

"Drop it now!"

"Dude, that threat is way older than me... no way in hell that I'm dropping this and you know it..." he should have just shot me the moment he pointed it at me. The gun is pointed straight at my head...

"Tch...!" oh he dropped his guard...

*BANG!*

"Hnnnngh!" shooting him on the knee, he falls down, dropping his gun and clench his teeth from the pain.

"Rule number 1 in a Mexican standoff: literally don't look away from your opponent" kicking his gun away from him. I point my own right his head.

"H-Hey...!"

"Don't worry, I'm not going to kill you..." I said.

"I believe there's a certain express tunnel that I need to get to... Mind telling me how to get there..."

"E-express tunnel!?"

"Don't play coy... or I'll shoot you on the other leg..."

*BANG!*

"HNNNGGH!" Oops... misfire...

"Sory I lied... You do know by now that I'm not in a good mood. In fact, my vacation is not going well right now as of the moment..." I point crouch down and drive the muzzle of the gun on his forehead. His eyes widen, with tears in the corners of his eyes.

"Tell me, how do I get to that express tunnel...Mr..." on his breast pocket under his bullet vest, I rummage through it finding an ID card.

"...Solomon..." I say his family name.

"I-It's through there...!" he points through a window that watches over the sterilizing room.

"Th-There's an elevator p-p-pass that..."

"See? That isn't too hard..."

*SLAP!* *SLAP!*

With a friendly pat on his cheeks to calm him down, I stand up and walk away.

"Oh yeah..." I quickly remember something.

"Wha-!?"

*BANG!*

"Sorry... but I don't have time letting you call reinforcements..." he lies there dead with a hole on his forehead.

Casually heading to sterilizing room, I see the elevator that he speaks off on the other side. But the moment I'm fully inside the room, the doors on both ends had closed, sealing me inside. And I can see gas seeping inside from the vents. Judging from the rise of my breathing, I'd say it's carbon dioxide.

"Well, well. It's the old gas chamber..." I remember the times in one of the concentration camps. Eating your own medicine, huh...

"C'mon Anonydeath, if this was all it takes to stop me from letting you see hell, then we wouldn't have met me in the first place..." I'd probably be dead a long time ago...

Since a sterilization room needs to be air locked, you can imagine how much carbon dioxide concentration is rising in here. I'm slowly feeling lightheaded, oxygen is slowly failing to reach my brain. Strength is slowly leaving me, my breathing pace is getting more and more ragged. 3 minutes before I die... huh... ha ha...

"...hehe.. what to do... what to do..." I bring out my gun and shoot at the glass panel that seals me in here.

*BANG!* *BANG!*

*CRACK!* *CRACK!* *CRACK!*

"Cra... p..." my vision is starting to blur...

It seems that they're bullet proof glass. Even if I shoot at the same spot every time, the bullet won't dig deeper. So what now? I'd prefer if I don't... well... get 'suffocated' in here. I'm already late for the party as is. Think, think me... Oh wait, my brain power is getting low from low oxygen...

"And just when I... thought... I'd get be there on time..." think, think, think, think...

"...haha... I guess... I really am not cut out for this..."

*THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!*

"Oh...?" I look behind me... and through the glass doors seal, standing in the hall are a bunch of soldiers looking at me with disdain. I know those kinds of eyes... eyes that only looks at a target not as a human person.

With the last of my strength leaving me... I raise a closed fist and raise my middle finger afterwards, also showing them a glimpse of my 'eyes'... In between... blurred vision... they all look scared...

"You'll be... fucked... if you... open... this...!"

*THUD!*


	125. Chapter 125

Chapter 125:

"Heh... What the heck? He's already dead anyway..."

"We can't go against orders from the top..."

"C'mon, you've seen how he died? He choked himself to death..."

"Look, I get your point... But are orders are orders..."

"Yeah, yeah. I know. So tell me this? Why did we bring this dead guy here? A waste of cell if you ask me..."

"Dunno... Look just shut and let's just leave him already... something about what this dude said before he died gave me a the shivers..."

"What? A dead guy doesn't come back from the dead..."

"Boo..."

"…!" I twist his head...

*CRACK!*

As the soldier falls down, I quickly grab the knife from his holster before his body touches the ground. The other one panics for awhile before realizing that he's in danger himself. He quickly reaches for his sidearm but fails to pull it out since he didn't undo the belt. I quickly move in behind him, grab hold of his wrist, and force it on his back. I kick him in the knee and use my body weight to push him to the ground. Then, I put my knee on his back, locking him in place...

"Gh...!"

"Before I let you follow your friend over there... tell me where I am" I bring the knife closer to his neck.

"Kh...! In a prison...!"

"Which prison...?"

"The one... that's deep underground...!"

"Deep? Pass that express tunnel I presume..."

"Y-Yes! Now L-L-Let me g-g-go... man...!"

"No way..." with the knife, I cut his throat open...

"Okay..." Standing up, I feel my belongings on myself. Seems my weapons are now gone. Luckily, my phone is here, and some other 'things', since I hid them under my underwear.

I look around this unappealing looking cell. There isn't anything of interest other than fresh cemented walls, a thick metal door that's slightly opened, and 2 dead corpses. If that guy said was true then, this 'prison', is the main base of the Seven. And I might have a good idea why they classified this room as a 'prison'.

Looting their equipment, I strip one of the soldiers of his vest, I fill the vest pockets with grenades and sidearm magazines. Tightening the straps around me, I take their Five-SeveN side arm and headed out of this dreadful cell. Do hope there's little resistance here...

The hallway is just as you'd expect, doors upon doors upon doors to their individual cells. At the end of the hall is another steel door different from the others. Since this place is as quiet as a haunted house, I run towards it and hug the side of the door. I slowly opened and peek with my gun ready for anything...

"Good..." I swing open the door and enter another hallway as though taking a walk.

A few short meters away from me, is a corner. I run towards it and take cover. Peeking, seems I'm in the clear as well. I don't want to assume that I this place is as empty as it gets. But it would be helpful if it is. But this is their main base, wouldn't you have some guards patrolling around or even set up cameras? Or maybe you they don't want their dirty little secrets be leaked unintentionally.

With the hallway as quiet as it is, there isn't anything here that echoes other than my own footsteps. And plus I feel like there'd be ghost here for some reason. I'm not afraid of ghost or anything for that matter, but I remember a certain fiancee right now that might get scared if anything were to happen in this place...

*BAM!*

"The hell?" I hear a loud explosion or sorts coming from where above. Rounding a corner, I found some stairs leading to a door. Maybe there are soldiers having a skirmish match which involves bombs. If that happened while Neptune was here with me, she'd have all her hair screaming 'Nepu!'.

Climbing the stairs, I ready myself for anything with my gun pointed at the steel door that's above me. I mean come on, I just 'healed' a while ago. I don't need to 'pass out' twice in the same day. As I get nearer to the door, the sounds of battle slowly rises in volume.

*BAM!* *BANG!* *CLASH!* *BANG!* *CLASH!*

"I guess it really is a skirmish..." I stack up on the side of the door, letting my ear hear what's actually happening through the door.

" 'You're not getting away!' "

*CLASH!*

"Guhh...! You...!"

" 'Above you...!' "

*CLASH!*

"Oh it's just them..." I smile at the reassurance. Seems they're doing fine, hooraay.

Putting my gun down, to it's respective holster, I casually open the door and headed outsi...!

"Gwoooooah!?"

*BAM!

"..."

"Whew. He was quite an opponent..." Vert said as she untransformed.

"Yeah, and thankfully, those monsters didn't come out" Nepgear heaves a sigh of relief as she untransformed as well.

" 'Hm? Jared...?' " Blanc notices me, putting away her giant axe away as well.

"Don't just 'Hm? Jared...?' me. I almost died from getting squashed by a big giant robot" heck, my whole life flashed before my eyes as well.

" 'Sorry, sorry...' ...as compensation, I'll lend you another book..."

"Don't think that a book would silence me..."

"Jared...!" a certain woman, comes running...

"…!" I dodge...

*THUD!*

"Nepu! Why'd ya dodge me you bully!" she get's herself up and filed a complaint.

"...Oh sorry, I thought it was another giant robot and that my instincts kicked in..."

"Geez...! And I was worried about you as well...!" she lightly hits me...

"Fine, fine... I'll offer you some pudding ceremony to calm you..." I offered.

"Yay!" easy...

"Anyways, where've you been Big Brother..."

"Oh, here and there, just passing by... I am a passerby after all..."

"...Hearing that a thousand times already, that joke isn't all that funny..."

"Oh you were here Iffy... didn't see you there..." I wave at both Compa and Iffy who are now approaching us. Guess they were asked to hide while the rest fights this robot...

"Ugh... I couldn't win, after all..." the man, wearing a corporate suit and looks like he's in his 50's, said as he picks himself up off the robot. He holds he's left arm... a fractured arm. And he has blood dripping from he's head.

"This is where I die, huh? Looking back, it wasn't a bad life..." he kneels down as though praying. Drama...

"No. We're not gonna whack ya or nothin'" Neptune reassures the dramatic man...

"As I thought... All I can think of now are my daughters. CPUs, it is an arrogant request, but..." drama...

"Please consider it the dying wish of an old man..." tears started to flow down.

"...She just said we aren't going to kill you..." Blanc repeats.

"That's right... I'll just play with you and torture you until you come reeeeeeal close..." Plutie said with a smile on her face.

"T-Torture!?" the word sends shivers to Nepgear.

"Hehehe. That was a joke..." she laughs it off.

"Nope, I'm not laughing. I can't even crack a smile at this one, Plutie"

"Honestly, the idea is so tempting that I might even ally with Plutie on this one.."

"Nepu! Jared is being taken by the dark side of the force...!"

"Ugh, ignoring a dying man's last words... How heartless..." Mr. Badd agonizes.

"You won't shut up, will you? We really don't want to listen..." Noire said in annoyance.

"Kui?"

"Kuiiii!"

"Here comes the cavalry..." I say in reaction to those stupid sounds they always make.

"Waaah! They came out after all!"

"Don't just cling to me..." you're hurting me.

"Tch! So you did plan to trick us!"

"Hmm? They seem different" Vert said as she squints her eyes to focus, trying to make out what's different about them.

"H-Hey, girls! I told you not to come out using my most stern voice!" the rip off Diodon Nicthemerus bounces towards their so called 'father'. They form a wall to defend him.

"If you fall into the CPUs' hands, I'll... I'll..." he's crying even more now.

"We're not gonna do anything! How many times do we have to say it?" Noire said. Annoyed at the fact that he's not listening.

"But if he keeps saying we will... I kinda want to..." Plutie said, the air around her is slowly turning cold...

"You and me, both, I tell you..." I'm too honest...

"Again, Plutia, that's not really a joke you're making. And Big Brother please, don't patronize her!" aww, c'mon little sister-in-law to-be. I need to ease my brain...

"Kuiiii!"

"Kui! Kui!"

"I see. You were that worried about me. I'm such a lucky father..." Mr. Badd smiles on that one truth.

"...He's not paying attention to us now" Blanc said.

"He hasn't been paying attention to us at all from the very beginning..." I add.

"Mmm... UM... PLEASE DO NOT KILL OUR DEAR FATHER"

"*Sigh*..." people aren't listening to us...

"Like-I-said. We aren't planning to kill him!" Neptune said annoyed as well.

"I...I AM SORRY!" the creature retreats... wait a minute...

"Um..." no way, no way!

"Huwe?" Plutie has question marks floating above her head.

"T-This child..." Nepgear looks at one of the creatures.

"Uh?" Neptune does not have a single clue.

"IS SOMETHING WRONG?" the creature asks...

"HOLY SHIT, IT TALKS!?" I'm utterly surprised. Now my understanding of biology is really going down the drain. No wait, my understand of animals in general. Dammit! I'm going insane!?

"UWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAAAAAH! IT CAN TAAAAAAAALK!" Neptune screams at the top of her lungs.

"KUIIIIII!?"

"KUI!" the creatures react to this as something hostile and retreats to the perimeter of their father.

"Don't shot like that! You've frightened my daugther!" Mr. Badd scolds us.

"But c'mon, anyone would be floored by this mumbo-jumb!" Neptune shouts back.

"She's right! This is a serious plot twist! It can freakin' talk!"

"Um... You've been able to speak this whole time?" Vert asked the creatures anyway, ignoring our cries of culture shock.

"NO... WE ONLY RECENTLY LEARNED" the creature answered honestly.

"FATHER TAUGHT US CONSTANTLY AND KINDLY HELPED US LEARN HOW TO SPEAK"

"No, no my dears. This is all the result of your hard work" can someone stop the father and daughter drama, please...

"...This is more convenient for us" Blanc said.

"I'm sure you're being forced to say a lot of things, but there's no reason to cover for this guy" Noire said.

"FORCED? NO, WE'RE NOT..." an honest answer. I can tell...

"Yes, you are. Either being forced, or brainwashed, or it's some kind of drug, or..." brainwashing huh?

"He broke them in! Woooow..." okay... I think we had enough of her.

*CHOP!*

"Owwwieee... That's so mean Jarey...!" she pouts.

"…There's a line that you can't cross even if that's how you truly are, alright?" should've done this a long time ago...

"Plutie had such an excited look on her face... Why...?" Nepgear wonders...

"WE AREN'T BEING FORCED. HONEST"

"What kind of father do you take me for? Who would do such an inhumane thing!?" um... the Seven Sages?

"Is not their very existence an inhumane thing?" good point, Vert.

"THAT IS... BUT... FATHER IS A GOOD MAN" a scream as though it came from the bottom of the heart... Geez, I'm getting jealous again...

"Darlings..."

"Maybe things aren't quite the way we think they are..."

"Well, there is a saying that: 'Villain is a title filled with misunderstandings'" I add my own quote once upon a time, to Neptune's statement.

"...We need more info"

"In that case, um, Mister Badd? Let me heal you a little bit" Nepgear offered.

"Leave the nursing to me!" Compa suddenly said. Oh... right...

"Oh, Compa, Iffy..." Neptune calls out so casually, hiding the fact that she completely forgot about them.

"Jeez, we were just keeping quiet and then you forget about us?" Iffy complain.

"Th-That's not it! It was just a very frantic moment and, um, well..." Nepgear tries to make an excuse.

"Oh yeah, you two are here... I forgot, too..." Plutie is frank.

"Miss Plutia..."

"Plu-Plu, you're a meanie!"

"Um, if you're going to heal me, cou you get on with it?" Mr. Badd reminded us.

"Oh right, right. Compa..."

"Okay!" she pulls out a first-aid kit from nowhere and runs over to the injured in full nursing spirit.

"While we wait..." I sit down on the floor, crossed legged.

"Let's grab some popcorns and some snacks... this is going to be a long talk..."


	126. Chapter 126

_A/N: After dealing something called real life, I finally got time to post a new chapter._

* * *

Chapter 125:

There was once a quote that I heard from a very old friend of mine back when I was in china: "A country badly governed, wealth is something to be ashamed of. A country well governed, poverty is something to be ashamed of". Of course we can't just purge away the poor, there are always poverty anywhere. Not just from financially, but also from ourselves.

Lastation is a country of such. For one thing, Noire is an excellent leader. How quickly she had risen Lastation to be the very top in terms of shares, economics, politics, education, defences, job competency, and medicine. Her people are rejoicing over this. It was as though her failure back then during the hacking have long been of gone into the history books.

But not all people are graced with such blessings from their goddess. There are still people out there starving to death. Street people littered around between the alleys of buildings. Old withered hands knocking on people's hearts for anything to give out of the kindness of hearts. Some are crestfallen, and just simply gave up.

Often, we simply ignore these people from reasons. For example they may be connected to the syndicate, or that we are too disgusted to them, or maybe we do not have time to deal with these kinds of people. There are worst reasons as to why we ignore these people.

There are people who do have an open heart, but these kinds of people are now rare to see. But still they exist out there.

There was this certain girl, wrapped in a jacket, covering herself from the heavy shower that the heaves brought upon the city of Lastation. She carries a heavy weight in her arms as well as in her heart, evident of some water flowing from her eyes. She runs towards an alley, and put that weight in a box that is lying around, soaked under the rain.

With heavy breaths she looks at that weight. It was small, as though looking like a baby monkey of sorts. She knows that it is blasphemy to call your own as weight. She knows that, but her current predicament right now is not beneficial for the both of them. The same goes as what she's doing right now…

"…!"

She tries to leave but it smiled at her, as though telling her it was okay. She ran away, with tears pouring out of her eyes.

An old mute man, homeless and abandoned have seen everything from the other side of the street. With an umbrella that he picked up from junk, he crosses the street and crouched down on the box, covering it from the rain…

"…" he felt pity showering on him.

A child sitting on a cardboard, extends her hand towards a man wearing a suite. By experience, she knows that these types of people have the most food to offer to her. The man stops and looks, she gestures as though she's eating something on an imaginary plate. The man sighed and moves on, ignoring the hungry child.

She lets her hand fall back on the ground, trying to resist the pain in her stomach.

She wasn't completely this hungry until just three days ago. The old man taking care of her recently died. With her current predicament, no doctor was willing to without paying up money first. So she watched the one taking care of her dies as though falling asleep from the day's work of hard labor.

With her only 'parent' gone for good, she is now left with her own devices. But most of all, she needs food. As she is just a child, she does not know how to cook yet. Therefore she is left with begging for food from people that does have some. Knocking on everyone's hearts to share a bit of their blessings to the unfortunate ones.

And 3 days has passed without any luck whatsoever. She had approached anyone who looks rich or nice enough to give her some food. But, with the mentality of today's society, they just ignored her. It was a street where she sees thousands of passersby passing by, but not one had they ever given her a second look.

She couldn't voice out her concerns as she was never thought how to speak. The old man couldn't speak after all. She only know a few signs that tells her current condition. Like if she was hungry or thirsty or if she feels sick. Right now though… she feels incredible hunger and thirst. The last of her water from her water bottle is spent. She has no money to buy to, and no one to turn to.

Night had befallen, and she doesn't feel sleepy. The pain in her stomach subsided but she knows that it would come back to haunt her again. Her throat is dry. She wanted to drink any water that she sees, but it looks gross so she stayed. A few people had given her some money, but it was mostly coins that isn't enough to give her a bottle of water. With little energy left she slowly put herself to sleep, on the cardboard.

* * *

"… … …!"

She wakes up in an unfamiliar place. An unfamiliar atmosphere greets her. A dark room, darker than she's ever seen. There are no lights, rather, there are red veins on the ground providing little to no illumination. The feels that the ground is slightly warm, in contrast to the cold ground on the street. She sits up, trying to feel through the dark space before her.

"…!"

She pulls her hand back the moment she felt something. All of her hairs stand up, she feels scared. In this darkness she can't tell what she just felt. Fearing the unknown, she crawls backwards, and not long after, she feels another something behind her.

"Hey, watch it!"

"…!" with that stern angry voice resonating in her ears she pulls herself back from the source of the voice.

"…!"

Then bright lights, brighter than the day, flashed before her eyes. It was blinding, she had to close her eyes it. From everywhere, she hears everyone groaning and whining about the lights being turned on. It wasn't long before their eyes adjusted to the brightness.

She looks around, surprised the room. It seems that the walls are rocks. Every corner of the room has a spotlight that is beaming at them. And most noticeable of all there are people here. Children, so many children here. All of them are just the same age as her, wearing very same clothes as her. Dirty. And smells as well. She immediately knew that all of these children were like her.

Confusion turns into panic when every children in the room realizes their predicament. They all started to scream in fear of the unknown possibility. They run around screaming "Help! Help!". They scream for their mother and fathers. They scream for anyone to get them out of this place. They do not know where they are or how they got here. All they know is, they feel really unsecure here.

The girl sits there. She cannot speak so she sits. Waiting. All the other children ignores her. There is nowhere to go back to. In fact, she'd rather stay here. There is a roof after all to cover herself from the rain. She doesn't know if she will be able to beg for food here, but it's better to stay here protected from the elements of the streets.

*CLANG!*

"Everyone!"

A voice shouts. Everyone looks at one side of the room, their panics were now completely silent. There is a pink, metallic humanoid form of sorts. Standing with its arms wide spread as though telling them it was okay.

"Now, now. All of you are probably wondering why you are all here. In fact, we are here to give everyone of you a home!"

"A… home…?" everyone murmurs.

"Yes, yes. A home. Where there is a roof over your heads, and food to eat everyday. We'd even throw in some parents as well to take care of you. A good offer isn't it…"

A parent. The old man crosses the girl's mind. To her that old man was the closest thing to a parent than whoever. And the offer is too good to be true as well. She'd finally have somewhere to comeback to. A real home with a roof, living room, a bed, a television to watch, a dog. Everything that a child from the street would only think off as heaven. The idea was tempting that she wants to see it happen.

"See? All of you aren't in somewhere bad… This place is… what do we call it…" it puts its finger on its check and look up to think.

"Aha!" it hammers it's palm lightly.

"An orphanage of sorts. Yes, yes all of you are in an orphanage. So rejoice everyone! All of you are going to get yourselves a home to live in!"

This was the most incredible in her life. She had been rejected by hundreds of people, ignored her as though she was trash on the sides of the street. She was relieved, overjoyed even, there are still people out there who cares for the unfortunate such as her. To realizes that even the unfortunate ones are still human beings.

"Now then everyone must be hungry. But unfortunately, food won't be out until a couple of minutes so settle on some candy first…"

The robot steps aside revealing a woman in glasses and in beautiful blue hair. She walks in the room with a basket full of candy that is seems to be shining like a rainbow. She puts it down on the floor. Everyone tries to take a peak, not daring to touch it before they were given permission.

"Now then, feel free to eat them all…!"

Everyone dives in, they were like a pack of wolves that found their prey. They were driven by their desire to eat those candies, after all they were poor and couldn't afford their own food. The girl was thin and weak, she wasn't able to get a huge load but she got only a handful which was enough for her.

She started devouring the candies. They were rather tasteless, as though eating glass. But she doesn't care. As long as its food and able to fill her stomach she'd eat it regardless. She eats and eats and notices that her stomach is getting more and more weight in them. It was a feeling that she'd never known in her life. A feeling after eating called 'being full'.

"Aah…" it was a relief. It was heavenly. The candies were tasteless but her stomach is as happy to have some food stuck in it. Now she can wait in excitement with the main course after a while. It was the best thing that a child of the street could ask for. It may have been so simple for others but for her, that have zero money, it's so far out of reach.

"…!"

Then pain.

Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain.

There was pain that originates in her stomach. She cannot fathom what causes this pain. Her brain is only registering pain. Immense, blinding pain. All her arms and legs are now being electrified by something. Her chest is on fire, her head is being crushed, her body feels heavy, and she couldn't breathe properly. Her ears now starting to ring and her eyes are now flowing something red out of it.

Why? All she ever wanted was to have some place to go back to.

She rolls on the ground, resisting such pain by means necessary.

A place where she could eat properly.

She holds her stomach. The pain in her stomach is much more blinding. As though it wants to burst.

A place where she can shelter from the rain.

She can't tell from left to right anymore. She tries to look but all she could see was the color red. A very thick color of red.

A place where she could be like the other children.

Her breathing are getting more and more ragged. She can tell that she's running out of breath. The waves of pain wouldn't stop however.

A place where she could get the things she want the most.

She feels as though her arms and are shrinking. The pain intensifies. Even thinking gives her pain. She feels herself getting smaller and smaller. Her feet slowly and slowly slowly becoming a single leg. Her arms are now starting to turn into something else. Her neck is slowly shrinking causing her chin to be on her chest already.

AS the pain continues to rise within her, she looks at those two with bloody tears in her eyes.

"…" she reaches out to them. But they simply stared her like watching trash. Is it because she was poor that they had to throw the trash away. Is it because of her naivety that she was fooled by these people? Or maybe, for trash like her, she had no right to dream of such a place…

A place where she could call a home.


	127. Chapter 127

Chapter 127:

"I see…" with her story now finished, I can only leave that comment. Everyone else stays quiet while Neptune holds my hand to find some sort of comfort from this heavy atmosphere.

I've always believed that children should always be protected. After all, a certain Filipino writer, another friend of mine, said that children are the future of the country. But hearing all this, I remember those 'days'. Those 'days' keeps me up at night in fear, those 'days' when I was weak and couldn't hold much of anything. Mine and theirs are both similar and distinctly different, but I know what these children have been through.

-But… *Sigh*… I'm getting jealous… More so, that I can't get angry at him…

"What happened afterwards…?" Nepgear asked.

"We were sent to a another room. Where there were 20 of _like _us in total…"

"That many!?" a shocked cry from Noire.

"Kya! Sorry!" the child retreats.

"No, don't apologize for that"

"Hey! Don't bully my daughters!" the 'father' shouted.

"Sister, twenty isn't right. You're not telling the truth, so they're upset" the other one said. Oh, they were lying?

"Oh, Right… There were twenty-two of us…" although most people would disagree that still doesn't make any difference.

"I wasn't mad because you lied. Actually, no, I wasn't mad to begin with"

"Okay, okay, Noire. We won't get anywhere with you leading this investigation" Neptune calms her down.

"Tell me Mr. Badd… what purpose do you kidnap such children and turn them into… this?" I want to tiptoe but I guess I failed at it.

"It wasn't a matter of money or anything. We just didn't want any… undue attention" undue attention, eh…

"But. Ultimately, you goal was to make a CPU who would follow your commands, correct?" Vert followed-up.

"…Correct…"

"Bleehhhhh…. Just remembering that makes my blood boil with rage…" Plutie is releasind dark aura again.

"…!"

"Plutie! Not now, hold it in, please!" Neptune tries to calm her down.

"…Even though they mutated you into that form for their own ends, you don't hate them?" Blanc asked.

"At first we did, very much so. We were unlucky to begin with, and then we lost our humanity"

"Still, father is very kind. He treats us like we are his real daughters!" the other one answered.

"My wife passed away when I was still a young man. I lived many years without any children…" ooh, juicy, juicy info. Need to take note.

"At that time, you all entered my life and it was only natural that such feelings would surface" he redirects his words to the 3.

"So this old dude doesn't have some creepy monster-baby fetish after all?"

*CHOP!*

I chop Neptune's head.

"Owwwiee! What was that for!?"

"Feddish?" don't even think about asking me what that word means later, Compa. Although it isn't sinister in any way, shape, or form.

"Don't be rude! Looks don't matter! It's the heart! It's all a matter of the heart!"

"He cooked yummy food and gave us birthday presents. We got things here we never got normally…" the children continued on with their story.

"He bathed us and even fell asleep in our beds with us!"

"Sorry for that Neptune. I guess you were right…" I pet the part where I chopped her.

"Mhm… He definitely does…"

"Wrong! Give it a rest!"

"So, because he was kind to you and showed you a father's love…" Noire wanted to say something but stopped herself midway.

"But something isn't right…" Nepgear said.

"Yeah, he could've done all that for you in your human form!"

"P-Plutia, please calm down. I'm begging you, please don't get angry…" Iffy is clinging to Compa like a scared cat.

"Plu-Plu, don't be bad. Iffy's about to cry"

"It is as you say. My actions cannot be forgiven" so true, Mr. Badd…

"Over time, my daughters learned to laugh again, but they still get sad and wish to be human…" aah… my past is rushing over to me.

"That's…!"

"…Forgiveness doesn't come just because you regret your crime. Punishment must be dealt"

"Can I…!?" okay time to draw to the line again.

"No you don't…"

*CHOP!*

"Owwiee…" she holds her head. I didn't hit her that hard, right?

"If punishment we are talking about here…" I stand from my spot and walked over. Putting a hand behind me.

"…W-wait…! Father is doing his best to find a way to return to us to our human forms!"

"…He is? How nice…" I sarcastically said.

"He said we will never know true happiness in our current forms…" stop it kid, or it'll the moment.

"…I see… but there is a saying that, sin does not go unpunished after all…"

"That's…!"

"No, I'll accept any punishment…" Mr. Badd stands and faces me.

"…" great… now my eyes are really starting to ache...

"May you grant me my last wish…"

"…What?" I have an idea what that is…

"Could you continue my research and turn them back to normal…?"

"Please, we're begging you! Don't kill our father!" the children screamed at me.

"…I see…" *sigh*… Lucky, lucky bastard… But… maybe if I hadn't gone through those 'days', then maybe I wouldn't be standing here right now. So with my 'eyes' staring directly into his, he goes paler than snow white and closes his eyes out of instinct.

"…They say, there is no such thing as a perfect father…" he closes his eyes tightly, clenching his hand into a fist. I take out something from my back pocket… I retract my 'eyes' afterwards.

"…But a father can love perfectly…"

"Eh…?"

He opens his eyes, and the first thing he sees is a small plastic bag with some… well, let's say, brown sugar, inside it. If anything, you might even call this an illegal drug. I dangle the thing in his field of vision. Letting him process what that is…

"Wh- What is that…?"

"What you've always wanted…"

"Don't tell me…!?"

"…Is it… even possible…?" Blanc seems to get the idea…

"…I expected it was something like this… It is Jared we are talking about here…" thank you very much Vert.

"Eh? Eh? What's happening? Me brain doesn't get it…"

"Geez, and you are together…" Norie sighed at Neptune.

"I don't get it as well, but I think he found a way to return the kids to normal…" Nepgear said.

"Really!?" Plutie is astonished.

"…Then, we can…!"

"Yes kids. You can turn back to normal just eating a grain of these…" it was a good thing that getting the ingredients to get these are easy.

"…But, I can't just give it you freely though. Nothing's free after all…" even love comes at a price. Only thing is, we call that responsibility.

"But…!"

"Very well, I'll give you every fortune I have…"

"Admirable… but no…"

"But I need…!"

"...To get this, you need to atone for the crimes you've done… But there are many ways to atone for ones sins… Let's see…" I lightly juggle the plastic bag and as I think with my eyes closed.

"…I'll do it! I'll accept any punishment!" I guess I can stop tiptoeing now, he's already proven himself…

"Then, go and take care of those daughters of yours…"

"Huh…?"

"Punishment does not mean to whip you to shape. It means to take responsibility of the things you've done…" I walk over to the tree children, kneel and petted them.

"…To accept once faults and move on…"

"…"

"Mister…"

"So then, Mr. Badd, how about it… Take care of these daughters of yours and make them into fine women…"

"I…*hic!* … I…!"

"Gee… Jared's taking the spot light again!" the sudden weight made me lose my balance and I lay on the ground with a certain woman's weight on me.

"Don't just tackle me dammit! Don't you have anything better to do other than tackling me!?" I feel like she's getting more and more aggressive on me. Not that I mind, but it's ruining the moment.

"Anyway, you whipped out something like this! You're completely OP and a Stu!"

"…!" wait, wait. I'm a stu? I actually don't consider myself as one since I didn't pop out of nowhere with some extreme knowledge of anything… Wait, wait. That's me right? No, no. Impossible. Okay, okay, calm down me. First, let's define what a stu is… Stu's are people…

…!

"Well, if it can help those kids go back to normal then it doesn't matter what he is…"

"Shut it Noire! You don't know what internal wars I'm facing right now!" I said to her.

"…The same old, same old…" Blanc sighed.

"Well, it did turn out to be good news for the kids…" Vert said.

"Jared is soooo coooool!" Plutie praised.

"Mhm! The mister is great!"

"That's good news right, kids?" Nepgear asked the kids.

"Mhm!"

"Now we can be able to live happily ever after!"

"S-So… Miss Plutia isn't going to…"

"Mhm! No more scary things for Iffy, for now!"

"Why for now!?"

"I am a passerby after all. Now then, you three…" the three bounced towards me.

"You said there were 22 of you correct?"

"Mhm…"

"Hrm… Well this is enough for all 22 of you. Make sure that it's only just a tiny bit. I can't make anymore of these… got it?"

"Mhm! We'll make sure everyone would get a taste!"

"Good, good. Now then everyone, step back and turn around…" I redirect my voice to the rest. They follow my instruction except for one.

"You too Mr. Badd…"

"B-But…!"

"You'd prefer not looking for a moment…"

"…M-mhm…" hearing the coldness from my voice he turns his back.

"Okay, you three… A little warning…" I rip open the bag and they all open their mouths.

"…This'll hurt…" I take a pinch and drop then carefully into their mouths.

"…a lot…"

"…Mgmgh!"

"Gu…!"

"Guaah…!"

"Hrragh…!"

"…Hiiiguuuah!"

"…! _Haa… haa… _Ack… Ahg…!"

"H-Hey…!"

"Don't even look!"

"…!"

"You'll get nightmares…" the torture continued…

"Haag…!"

"achkg…!"

"wagh… acka…!"

"Hagh…!"

"_haa… haa… _kauhck!"

"Ack… Hnggg!"

"Hnngg…!"

"Guh… It…"

"haa… _haa… _hurts…"

"Don't worry… the pain will go away as quickly as it came…" I said to them.

"...B-but…Hngg! Guah!" oh she puked blood. It won't kill her at this stage though…

"Gh…! Haaaa….!"

"Grhhh…!"

"Hnnnnnng…!"

"…" it's done…

Standing up, I head towards the only man who wants to see them more than me. His has sweat sliding down his neck, and a clenched fist. I guess hearing his daughters cry in pain as though bearing childhood is probably tearing him apart. With a tap on his shoulder I said:

"…Go" I pass as he turns around…

"…Are you all…"

"Mhm…!"

"*hic!* *sob!*…Hn!"

"…Papa!"

"Uwaaaa…!"

Hearing a tears of joy ringing out, the rest assumed to turn and look. If it were something out a drama movie, we'd pass it off. But moved with what they see, they burn the image of a caring father embracing his daughters. Geez, what am I getting all dramatic for…

"Nepu?"

"Sorry…" with almost shaking hands, I hold Neptune tight.

"Mhm, it's fine. Anything wrong?"

"It's nothing. I feel like I'm running out energy, so I'll charge up…"

"Okay! I'll charge you with more Neps!" she returns the hug. Her warmth reaches my core in no time, the smell of shampoo soothes my breathing. Her gentle rubbing calms me down…

"Yeah…"

Sigh, they're so lucky…


	128. Chapter 128

_A/N: So quick update on this side, simple and clean. Job offered competition. Said competition said to make a program to optimize office workload. If program gets picked, the programmer gets a raise. I do programming. They don't like it. I do it again. And they don't like it. etc. etc. Then I got picked. Yay! I got a raise! _

_This is the best I can do, my brain is swimming in codes right now._

* * *

Chapter 128:

_"You know Mr. Badd… I did resolve one of two issues here…"_

_"…I know"_

_"So then onto the serious part…"_

_"Right? You want to know who killed all those children, right?"_

_"Yeah. And depending on your answer, I might ask those children to stay in our day-care…" that was a threat._

_"*Gulp*…It was…"_

_"…"_

_"…Anonydeath…"_

_"I see, reason…?"_

_"The get-go plan was that we would use Lady White Heart to our means…"_

_"And?"_

_"But with that failed. We devised another plan immediately…"_

_"That Seven's goddess correct?"_

_"First, we tried turning one of our own…"_

'Arfoire…' _the price of power…_

_"And that too, failed… So we moved on to, kidnapping children"_

_"Alright. I get it… Now, second question…" Mr. Badd gulped._

_"Who is this little girl's voice that I've been hearing about…?"_

_"Hm…? Little girl's voice…?" so you don't know huh?_

_"Let's leave it at that… C'mon, your _'punishment'_ is waiting for you…"_

"Haa… I'm bored…"

"You said it…" Neptune complains beside me.

"…Mhm, this express tunnel is really, really long…" Blanc said.

"It's kinda like we're going to go on forever…" Nepgear said.

I never personally experienced the Death March, but I think I'm feeling it right now. Walking for almost, what, 30 minutes already, and still no end in sight. How deep long is this express tunnel anyway? I thought it was under a mountain or something. But it feels like we've walked pass mainland and is now under the sea.

"By the way Jared… how'd you know that those kids would go back to normal once they ate that?" Iffy asked.

"Intuition of a passerby" I immediately answered. Not like I won't be able to tell them anytime soon…

"Anyway, how long are we gonna keep on walking?" Noire asked.

"Indeed, we have been walking for a while now…" Vert said.

"…My legs are soooo heavy now…" Plutie complains as well.

"Then, let's ride the Jared express!" Neptune suggests as she latches onto my back. She hugs me tightly, a sign that says she was worried for me.

"I'm not a train you know…"

"C'mon Nep Jr. Have a seat on the Jared express!"

"B-but…"

"C'mon, I know you want to experience it. You can take shotgun, although it's my seat…" this woman is a good negotiator…

"U-um… okay, if Big Brother is alright with it…" See!? And she's already gullible about the offer! Sigh, I feel like I'm being slowly turned into something else.

"*Sigh*… There's nothing I can do…" walking over to Nepgear, still having Neptune hanging around my back like a backpack, I sweep her off her feet and lift her up.

"Okay down there?" I ask the girl.

"Mhm…!" she nods happily.

"I'm so jealoooouuuuus! I want to be carried around like that too!" Plutie shouts her extreme envy of things.

"ooh! Okay, Plutie! Climb on up beside me then!"

"'Kaaaay!" she runs over to me.

"…You know, you turning into a train isn't all that far…" Blanc comments.

"I'm a passerby dammit!"

"Yaay! I get to ride the Jared express again!" Plutie cheered.

"Hoooh! C'mon Jared express! Giddy up!" Neptune points forward, commanding me to move.

"I thought I was a train?" now I'm a horse?

"Everyone is forgetting about us, Compa…"

"Everyone's having so much fun!"

* * *

"Okay! We're parking up on port side!" Neptune points to the right.

"That's starboard, port side is the left" I stopped walking and put down Nepgear first. The two also jumps to the ground.

"*Sigh*… So we're here, huh…" Blanc reminded us.

"…Yeah… Walking for a while I'd figured it would be that time…" Noire agrees.

The reason why we stopped walking is because we have reached the end of our long walk. Before all of us, is a giant shutter. It isn't anything ominous in a sense, nor was it giving off something that we all should be worried about. But we're keeping our guard up, just in case. Well, this certainly raised the tension fast.

"…Okay, Nepgear, use your open-a-bob! And open this thing" I tell her.

"Um, Big Brother. It's padlocked" she said as she pointed.

"Then, use your multiple beam launcher to destroy the padlock"

"I think that's a going a little too far"

"Geez, can I do it Jared…?" Iffy offered her services.

"Hrm?" looking at Iffy she seems to have a very confident smile on her face. From nowhere she pulled out a disc of sorts. Oh, haven't seen those in a while. Let's see… according to color, that'd be…

"A sticky bomb…?"

"Mhm. I got this while I was tasked to check the armaments in the Guild…" she smiled proudly.

"Right…" so you basically smuggled it. Well, not like I didn't do that in my days in the military.

"Geez, stealing things is a big no-no, Iffy!" Compa tells her.

"Well, I didn't actually stole them… more like I borrowed it, and won't be able to return it" it's the same as stealing…

Iffy walks over to the shutter doors. She implants the disc on it as though putting a poster on the wall. She steps back, as well ready ourselves from the explosion that she's going to cause. She reaches insider her signature oversized coat and brought out a… television remote? Wait, wait…

"So that's why the damn remote was missing…" mystery solved. A few weeks ago, I was trying to watch some television after some daily labor but noticed that the remote was suddenly gone. Failing to find it, I had to buy a new one.

"Hrm? Yeah. Gear helped me make it into a detonator…" she said.

"Mhm, it was fun turning it into something else!"

"Geez, my Junior did it again"

"I'm getting the gist of why you said we should stop ourselves from giving her any ideas…" if we do, I can perfectly imagine that she'll turn Planeptune into a freaking robot. Bad for the heart.

"Okay, I'm pressing it now…"

With her thumb, she pressed the one button as though changing channels. The instant she do, the disc exploded right after.

*BOOM!*

"Whoo…" I whistled in amazement.

The shutter had a hole punched onto it. It's bent inwards, with the edges burnt. Well, well. It's plastic explosive if experience dictates right. We all went in, ladies first of course, and we were greeted by a large open area with a hole on the ceiling giving us a snippet of the sky above. The smell of leaves leave me to think that we are in the mountains not under the sea. Well, if it were under the sea we'll drown right about now.

"You know… It would have been a lot easier if you blew the padlock and lifted the shutter…" Noire complained.

"It's less exciting and too orthodox" also, for this one, we really need a flashy opening here.

"Sis, Big Brother, over there"

"Zzz…" in the air, as though laying down on the bed, I see a Yellow Bimbo headed girl with her white skin-tight suit back turned to us. I'm going to bet my black cards that she's sleeping.

"It's, P-ko!" Neptune runs towards first, followed by Plutie.

"Hey, don't just run up to her!" Noire shouted, concerned.

"But, but… Peashy!" Plutie shouts at the one floating in air.

"She seems different than before" Vert said, concluding her observation.

"Maybe they intensified their hold on her mind after what we found out the last time" Nepgear said hypothetically.

"I doubt it…" if its' true, then she'd be reverted back to an infant because her 'self' is now gone. Or maybe far more if they didn't know how to use that formula.

"P-ko! Yo, P-ko!" Neptune shouts, but our Yellow headed girl still doesn't answer and just floats there. She really is sleeping…

"At least answer us!" Iffy shouts. No dice.

"It's me, Compa! It's nice to see you again!" even Compa's yields no result.

"…"

"Wow… We're making a lot of noise and she's not even twitching. Such resilience, as expected of someone how taught her the basics of life…" I praise myself.

"Boo… If you won't listen to what we have to say, then…" Plutie glows… Oh, here we go again…

" 'Maybe I'll have you recognize my charms through physical means!' " the air just got a bit colder. Too cold.

"NOOOO! She's heeeerrrreeee!" Iffy runs away behind my back out of fear of the madam.

"Iffy, please get used to her. If you move past your trauma, you'll see _she's_ cute, too!"

"I don't think she can stomach that Compa…" that'd be like asking someone to eat a disgusting dish and say that it's delicious.

"No no no no! I'll never get used to _that_!" see? But I do feel sorry for her, in all honesty.

"Geez! Stop transforming at the drop of a hat!" Noire complains.

" 'But I got so tired of holding all my desires in…' " she really got to stop these sex related jokes. It was fine the first time around but now it isn't anything substantial anymore.

" 'After all, Peashy, you prefer us to be in these forms, right?' " the madam asks.

"…" no answer.

"Wh-What!? She's not even responding when Plutie's in _that _form!" Neptune is flabbergasted.

"…Reminds me of him…" Blanc pointed at me.

"Please, my title as a passerby would be tarnished if I don't get use to her…" I humbly said.

" 'Such confidence. Or maybe she's taking me a little too lightly' " no, she's just ignoring you cause she can't hear you.

"Uwaa… Her voice just got lower and more menacing. I think she's about to get angry…" she is angry already, Nepgear.

"…bu…"

"…Hmm? Maybe this kid's…" hrm? Blanc is starting to notice? She walked as she stares intently on our Yellow haired friend just, floating by above us.

"H-Hey! Don't get too close!"

"…"

"…I figured" Blanc has now confirmed something.

"What did you figure?" Vert asked.

"…She's asleep" okay, where's the jacket? She guessed right…

"Zzz… Zzz…"

"Eeh?"

"Sleepy time?" Compa cocks her head in question.

"Zzz… Zzz…"

" 'He… Hehehehehe…. Ahahahahahahahahaha!' " maniacal laugh escapes from the madam. Everyone shuddered.

"eep! Miss P-Plutia is…!" Iffy is now wanting to latch onto me.

"She's over the edge. That kind of laughter only happens when you're beyond being simply angry!" Nepgear is now panicking.

"I'm kinda interested what she'd do if it's beyond even that, now…"

"Please, Big Brother don't say something scary like that. The whole world would fall!"

"Yeah, Nep Jr. knows all about that kind of thing. You could be Plutie's handmaiden" Neptune suggests a job for her little sister.

"Thank you, but I really don't need an affinity like that at the moment!" so which is it?

"Stop sleeping! I'm telling you to wake up! So do it now!" Noire commands.

" 'Huh…?' " with eyes still not fully awake she turns the side and face us.

" 'Oh… The CPUs…' " she said with a sleepy voice.

"You say to so casually. It isn't proper for the enemy to be asleep during such an exciting scene!" well, I am excited. So Vert's statement is good.

" 'Bwaaaaah…. Hmmmnm, nmmnh…' " she closes her eyes once more, unable to resist the slumber.

"Don't go back to sleep when someone's talking to you!" Noire scolds.

" 'Awwww… But I'm sleepy…' "

"…We'll have to wake her up using less orthodox methods" Blanc suggests.

" 'Ahahahahaha… hahaha… Phew. It has been a long time since I've laughed this hard' " when was the first, madam?

" 'Okay… You've put me in such a wonderful mood…' " well she did laugh. Must have been exhilarating.

"Please deduce Plutie's true current mood, Nepgear" Neptune asked her little sister.

"I… don't know. This situation is like an undiscovered land…" the two sisters, despite their exchange, have their legs shaking.

" 'Hmm… Oh! That's right! I have to take care of the wicket CPUs!' " indifferent, she hammers her fist the moment she remembered.

"I wish you'd think about how we're seeing this scene unfold! Ugh…" Noire heaves out air.

"Even Noire's getting kinda tired of putting up with you. You're a unique one, P-ko"

"Yeah, even our usual teasing doesn't get this tired" I add.

"P-ko? That's not me. My name's Yellow Heart" I see… so they added a few tweaks to her head.

"I believe we've gone through this situation once before" Vert remembers that time at the base.

"…Today's going to be different…"

"Hrm?"

"You really don't remember us!?" Compa asks.

" 'Iffy, I would be delighted if you explained to her' " the madam commands the scared one.

"Y-y-yes, ma'am! Peashy, w-w-we spent childhoods together!" Iffy stammered the words but she managed.

"Really? I don't know about that"

"…Neptune, you said you had some method to restore her memory, didn't you?" Blanc said. Neptune looks at me, after exchanging eye contacts, she nods with confidence.

"Uh, about that… We gotta do what's expected of us first!" she transforms…

" 'Meaning, we must fight and weaken her so the plan will be more effective' "

" 'Oooh, I like it when my darling Neppy uses extreme methods…' "

"She's _my _darling. Please don't steal her…" I corrected her. But my word reached deaf man's ears.

" 'Don't you all want to transform? I've been biting my lip to hold this tingling sensation in…!' " you haven't been biting you lip, woman.

"Uwaa… Just wait a moment!" with a bit of panic, the rest transformed.

" 'Geez, even when she's sleepy, I'm sure she's still strong as hell. Sucks for us' " Blanc said.

"Agreed…"

" 'I feel the same strength from her now as when we first me. No… even _more _strength…' " Vert is steeling herself.

" 'That creeper said he wouldn't make that machine again, but he totally lied to our faces!' " Noire complains.

" 'He has tricked you yet again' "

" 'It wasn't just _me _this time' "

"I doubt it would last though…" remember it has only been a 2 days since we discovered that Peashy was Yellow Heart…

" 'Hmhmhmm. You're all so energetic. How about you, Neppy Jr.? Feeling spry? Flexible?' " the madam asks.

" 'Y-Yes, I'm fine! I know she's strong, but I won't lose!' " now where did her fear of the madam headed off to?

"How about you two? Ready to fight, your childhood friend?" I ask the two.

"M…mhm! If it's for Pea-Pea I'll do it!"

"That's right. We're going to bring Peashy home!" the two voiced their intentions out.

" 'That's not my name! I'm Yellow Heart!' "

"Good to hear… Neptune…" with a call, a katana materializes before me, I catch it before it falls. I ready my knife, holding it in reverse.

"C'mon, Peashy let's go home before we'd all give you a punishment for being disobedient with us…" I taunt her.

" 'None of you are listening to me! I'm mad now! I'll beat you all up!' " taking a stance in the air, she summons her yellow golden gauntlet claws.

" 'We will win, and we _will _bring you back, P-ko!' " Neptune declared.

"Heh… Let's party!"

*BANG!*


	129. Chapter 129

Chapter 129:

" 'Haa…!' " Neptune swings her sword first, a downward strike making her crouch, and sweeping one to her enemy's feet. Peashy jumps back easily avoiding the basic attacks.

" 'Haa!' "

*CLASH!*

From above, Nepgear drops down striking. Peashy blocks it with her gauntlet. She crouches and pierces the ground with her golden yellow claws. Without much effort, she lifts off a chunk of the cemented ground and threw it at us.

" 'No you don't!' " blanc intercepts, she swings her axe intercepting with the giant chunk of rock that's coming towards them.

*BAM!*

The chunk of rock, turned into a thousands of tiny stones. I lunge myself forward, using the slight shock on Peashy's face to get close.

" '…!' "

"Don't let your guard down…"

She swings the golden claw upwards. I raise the knife on my hand and intercept it. Once so, I twist it so that it would get caught between her claws. I pull her in, and as she turns I give her a side kick on her gut, pushing her away.

"Ha…!"

Iffy moves in from behind her, instead of knives, like how I know her counterpart, she instead uses katars. It's a push dagger from India that is characterized by its H-shaped horizontal hand grip which results in the blade sitting above the user's knuckles. She said that she liked the design so got me into training her into using one.

She jumps and raised one of her katars. As she falls down, she used gravity acting upon her weight to bring force on her swing.

*CLASH!*

The usual gauntlet blocks her attack. Landing, she takes a stance briefly and swings her katars.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

A barrage of dagger work. Iffy attacks with speed and precision on her target's critical parts.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

Peashy tries her best to block and dodge, as she is pushed back from the relentless waves of swings at her.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

Iffy doesn't just use her katars, she also performs some kicks into her combos. Making sure that her patterns are random as she can. Giving Peashy a hard time to block from all of it.

" 'Eh…' "

" 'I'm tired of waiting…' "

At this time, a familiar whip-like weapon is wrapped around her waist. The madam snickered as she snaps at her whip-sword. Due to the motion of the whip, the force traveled through the vertebrae of her sword, evident of a bump or hill travelling through the sword. Reaching the other side, Peashy was pulled up and then back down in neck breaking force.

*BAM!* *BANG!*

Bouncing off from the ground as though she was ragdoll. Vert came in to her perimeter as she falls down. She catches her with the other end of her spear and slams her on the ground behind her, making her bounce up once more.

*BAM!* *BANG!*

" 'Gh…!' "

Noire lunges in from under her. As though acting as a setter, she swings her sword upward, making sure that Peashy would be able to block it, throwing her upward. Blanc intercepts from behind her, she swings her axe from below. Peashy uses the kinetic energy imposed on her and flips her body upside down, she held out her golden claws.

*CLASH!*

" '…!' "

" 'Yaaaaaah…!' "

She caught the axe in between her claws. By now her arms would be numb from the shock, not according to her plan. Blanc twists, drawing a circle with her as the lead. She threw her straight up, dictated by centrifugal force.

" '…!' "

*BANG!*

" 'Gh…!' "

Nepgear, waiting above her, swings her gun-sword at her. Her arms block the attack instinctively. She was pushed back down on the ground, unable to control her aerial balance. Neptune takes a stance a few paces away. As Peashy falls on the ground, she readies her sword on her side, and lunges in.

*BANG!*

*CLASH!*

It's like one of those animated samurai moves. In blinding speed, Neptune swings her sword once appearing behind her target. Peashy had one of her two gauntlets destroyed from that.

" 'Jared!' " without wasting anything on her movements, she places the tip of the sword on the ground and lifts it up from the handle, creating a platform.

I run towards it, before Peashy has time to recover. I run along the flat side of her futuristic purple katana. I jump, twist, and swing down my own borrowed katana on her. With only one gauntlet left on her arm, she used it block my sword on her. Although two of those is barely keeping her from falling, one is just asking for it. Feeling her blocking arm weaker than mine, I push her back on the ground, landing both of our feet on the ground.

" '…!' "

With my sword and her gauntlet still pushing the other. I straighten up the hold of my knife and thrust it to her. I don't want to kill her, mind you. She swings her body to the left, avoiding the knife that I targeted on her chest. I swing it to her head, and she ducks down. With that, I push the sword on her, pinning her down. I reverse the hold of my knife and bring it down on her.

" 'Kh…!' " she rolls over, dodging the pressure of my katana and the knife coming down on her.

" '_haa… haa… haa…_' "

"…Tired?" I ask her, gauging. In a sense, we're literally holding back. Come in too strongly, and in an event where she had to cancel her transform mode at the last minute that's be bad. Too softly, then we'll out before we could even make her remember her memories. We just need her to get tired enough for a good blow and that's it.

'_It'll be hard on all of us… Plus, _she's _not ready yet…_' gotta make more time…

" '…!' "

*BANG!*

"I'll take that as a no…!"

She lunges forward, probably thought of a counter attack. She got close to me in a matter of a seconds. I step back and swing my knife at her.

*CLASH!*

She parries my weapon with the only gauntlet she has. I raise my sword above her and swing it down. She dodged to the left, with her gauntlet-less hand, she clenched it to a fist and swing it at me. I simply move my head to the side. I can fell waves of air pressure just from dodging the fist. That'd be bad for my face.

" 'Haa…!' "

*BANG!*

Vert charges from behind me, my instincts pulls me to the side. Peashy also dodged as well. I use that opportunity to get away from her and allow room for another attack.

Vert charges from behind me, my instincts pulls me to the side. Peashy also dodged as well. I use that opportunity to get away from her and allow room for another attack.

" 'Haaaa!' "

*BAM!*

Blanc just smashed her axe on the ground in between them. It creates a cloud of smoke covering all three of them. I step back a few paces, not getting caught in it and gauging at the smoke that Blanc created.

"Hm…?"

On the side, I can see a figure forming from the smoke. I waited for a while before I noticed the weapon that woman is holding right now.

" 'Ehe… Don't hide you naughty one…' "

The madam swings her whip-sword and it threw itself onto the smoke. It looks more like fishing in muddy water. Noticing that the whip-sword hasn't fallen on the ground yet, I assume that it already caught its prey. The madam pulls it, reeling in its catch from the smoke, revealing a certain yellow headed goddess struggling to get wrap of the whip-sword off her waist.

*BANG!*

" 'Haa…!' "

Noire flies towards her as she is being pulled by the madam. Peashy twists, unwrapping herself from the whip-sword on her waist. Noire, twists her body, giving her sword force as she swings it on her, Peashy doe the same. Their weapons clash…

*CLASH!*

They pass each other. Both landing on the ground. Peashy stabs the cemented ground once more and lifts a chunk of rock with just one claw. The size is relatively smaller though. She throws it towards Noire…

*SCHWING!*

Like cutting tender beef, Noire slices the chunk. Peashy appeared before her dangerously close. She swings her claw upward, lifting herself up as well, Noire blocks. Up in the air once more, slightly above her, Peashy twists and performs an axe kick on her as she lands.

*CLSSSSSSH!*

" 'Multiple Beam Launcher…!' "

*BANG!*

Nepgear, holding her gunblade in reverse, charges in. Peashy sees it and swings her claw to intercept.

*CLASH!*

With their weapons clashing, Nepgear twists, adjusts her hand on the trigger, and points it the ground as she swings.

" 'Fire!' "

*BANG!*

*BAM!*

The ground is destroyed once more, I can feel the ripples of the shock vibrating my bones. Debris of cemented floor flies everywhere. Peashy pulls back to safety. Towards one particular person we've been saving.

"Pea-Pea is a bad Pea-Pea!" our nurse pouts. By the way, she passed her nursing licensure after her 5th try. So she's not a nurse-in-training anymore, just like her counterpart.

" 'Eh?...h!' "

Compa points her giant syringe on her back, I swear where does she hide that syringe of hers, it pops up whenever she wants to. At the very point of it of her syringe is a some sort of a ball that the glows. She pushes the plunger, pushing out all of its contents.s

*BANG!*

" 'Gwaaaaaaah!' "

*BAM!*

A large beam of light, fires off from the syringe. It pushes Peashy from her back towards the opposite wall.

"That's game…"


	130. Chapter 130

Chapter 130:

" '…Ouchies… I lost…' " Peashy groaned as smoke clears itself, revealing that she's sitting on the floor.

" 'We did it!' " Nepgear cheered.

" 'Of course we did. Not even a cheating CPU is a match for me' " I believe Compa did the finishing blow, Blanc.

" 'Uh-oh… I'm feeling weak... My powers are going away…' "

" 'Hmm, strange. I thought her powers were limitless if she utilized that machine' " Vert asked, noticing.

"They probably rushed the production. The only breathing room they had was yesterday after all…" I said my theory.

" 'Or maybe they're having some sort of trouble? Either way, it works out for us' "

" 'Aww, don't change back! If you turn little again, there's no fun in torturing you…' " the Madam said. Can someone remind her why we're here again.

" 'Restrain yourself!' " commanded Noire.

"…Not really what I wanted… but does the job done…" I whispered under my breath.

" 'Uuugggghh… This stinks…' " Peashy glows, her figure turning into blinding light. The outline shifts and morphs, like clay. Slowly, shrinking, reconstructing, that of a small girl that we all care for.

"Aww, I'm small again!"

"It's her! She's the same as she was before all this!" Compa sounded her surprise.

"Right. Her growth stopped at that age because she turned into a CPU" Iffy said.

"No, you're wrong, Iffy! I'm not who you say I am!" Peashy complains. So they also did a rush job on that formula as well.

"P-ko isn't Peashy isn't Pea-Pea isn't me!" then… what are you? A yellow headed bimbo?

" '…I'd say that'd be accurate…' "

"Please don't read my thoughts. It's bad for my heart…" I tell Neptune.

"The hell's her problem?" Iffy asked.

" 'It's useless, you two. Something similar happened the last time' " she reminds.

"Then what should we do!?" Compa practically screamed that.

" 'We go through with what we planned. You two will be my little helpers, so be ready' " the Madam commands.

"Y-Yes, ma'am!" Iffy salutes. Okay, now I'm feeling disturbed about her trauma from her.

" 'And you too, boy…' "

"Look, you…" I was the one that morphed your crazy ideas to work.

" 'I was never told about this… What are they going to do, Big Brother…?' " Nepgear asked beside me.

"Well…"

" 'Well…' " Neptune and I gave snicker. She cancels her transform mode as well as Plutie.

"Something totally radical! Right, Plutie?" Neptune said in excitement.

"Uh-huh…!" an almost melodic nod.

"Bleh! Blah! I can't get big! Will Mommy and Daddy be mad!?" while they do so, our problem child here is crouching down as though and seems to be struggling at something. Does she want to poop? But she still has her shorts on. Kids these days…

"Listen to my voice, P-ko! You're P-ko, P-ko! No matter what anyone says!"

" 'Maybe you should use her _actual _name, not your stupid nickname' " Blanc suggests.

"Who cares!? P-ko is P-ko!" Neptune retorted.

"Nuh-uh, that's not me. I'm Yellow Heart"

"Peashy, you lived with us… With me, Neppy, Neppy Jr., Jarey, Iffy, and Compa…" Plutie enumerates.

"Oh, and Histy. She's watching over the Basilicom right now"

"Nep, Ja…? Iffy, Compa…? No… I don't know you! I've always been with Mommy and Daddy!" our problem child screamed, trying to reaffirm herself.

"But before them, you were always with us!" Iffy said.

"We lived together in Planeptune's Basilicom, remember?" Nepgear said.

"We want you to remember us!" it was more like begging her, rather than asking, coming from Compa.

"I dunno! I dunno any of that!" a tear, she doesn't notice, falls from her eye.

" 'Neptune, this direct assault to her memories may not be the best approach' " that may seem so, Vert.

"Yeah, I know. I figured she'd play dumb at least this long" she isn't playing dumb.

"Now we use _this _thingy!" remember that sports bag that Neptune has before this. Yeah, that one. She just pulled it out from out of nowhere. What sorcery is this? I need to learn that.

"The five-item set that Plutie and I made to stir her memories!"

"Set!"

" 'Five items? That's quite the spread' " yeah, can't believe it either, Noire.

"Number one! Here, Compa" Neptune puts down the bag, open it up, pulled out something. From where I'm at, I can't see very well.

"Take this and chase Peashy around with it!" Plutie gave her a…giant syringe…? Oh, right… _that _time.

"This is my syringe, isn't it? No! It's bad and dangerous to point it at not-sick people!" well, technically, Peashy is sick right now, so that'd be a pass.

"Eep! I'm getting a shot…?"

"You were like a serial killer with this before, Compa!" Neptune remembers. Yeah, if telling someone to give them your face with a straight face isn't scary I don't know what is.

"Chase her so she remembers…" Plutie reminds our nurse.

"W-Well, if I have to… Here I come, Pea-Pea!" she runs, clumsily and cutely as well, towards her target.

"Yikes! No! No shots!" succumbing to her fear of shots, she ran.

"Hey, wait!" Compa picks up the pace.

"Mwa-ha-ha. Her mind forgot, but her body remembers. It knows the pain from Compa's big syringe!" but the tip is an inflatable. How can that hurt anybody? Unless she pokes someone's eye yeah. But she's well disciplined so that seems unlikely.

" 'That's pretty damn macabre' " Blanc is having a rough time taking the situation in.

"You're next, Iffy…" Plutie rummages through the sports bag. She gave something to Neptune.

"O-okay. What should I do?" she nervously heads over to the Plutie, still cautious of the distance between them.

"Lookie. Read this" my wife-to-be passed a… book. Oh! Iffy opened it, revealing its secret contents.

"This is… a coloring book? Uh, 'I shall split the galaxy in twain with Gaia's power'…Wait! This is…!" that face she's making is priceless right now that I want to burst out laughing.

"Yep! That's part of the setting you and P-ko wrote for yourselves"

"Gaia? I've heard that before" Peashy stops running and rummages inside her head that word.

" 'Nice! She's responding!' " Nepgear is amazed by the results.

"Hurry up and read it" Plutie insisted.

"N-No way, I can't do this… This is sol old and it's written so poorly, and…" I know how the embarrassment feels. Makes you want to punch your old self.

"Pleeeeease? It's for Peashy. Don't be shy…"

"Do your best, Iffy!" Compa cheered, that settles it.

"Ugh… Fine!" with an almost tearful cry, her eyes returns to the coloring book. I need to cover my mouth in case I laugh.

"'I shall use the fallen angel's wings to whip up the winds of wicked warfare…'" I want to laugh, I want to laugh! Dammit! Pffft!

"Whoa, that sounds so cool!" at least, Peashy is getting excited over this.

" 'Revealing one's own dark past in front of everyone, and with such amateur alliteration…' " truly a mortifying thing to do, Blanc.

" 'Quite a sad sight' " we could never agree more, Vert.

" 'Uh, yeah…' " Noire says with a nervous tone.

" 'Hm? Your face us quite red, no?' " Vert says what she noticed.

" 'You mean you've got something like that stored away, too!?' " Blanc is generally surprised. Well she has one.

" 'N-no, I don't! I mean, I haven't come up with my own world setting or anything! S-Seriously!' " no, but we do know that you're taking pictures of yourself.

"So far, so good. Your turn, Nepgear!"

" 'Oh okay, what did you bring for me?' "

"Not a sing thing… Nepp Jr., you get nothing!" Plutie said bluntly.

" 'What? Nothing!? If you look harder, I'm sure you would've found something…' "

"This reminds me of something… Is this what you call 'getting the shaft'" I believe it is… and I'm not laughing as hard as I was during Iffy's.

" 'That!? You're triggering her memories by reminding her how poorly I was treated!?' " apparently. How sad…

*BRRRR!* *BRRRR!*

"Hrm…?" my phone is vibrating. Taking it out my phone it seems I got a message from a number that I don't recognize.

"…" hmmm… Better send this to Nepgear…

*BEEP!* *BEEP!* *BEEP!* *BEEP!*

" 'Eh? My phone is ringing…' " Nepgear materializes her phone, I swear I need to learn how to do that.

" 'Eeh!? I've got the 'Poorly Treated' Affinity!?' " I know right?

"Okay, me next" Neptune reaches from beneath her purple dress. And pulled out… pudding…

"Hey, check it out! Your fave! I stuck it in my boob pocket to get it warm and gooey for you!" that sight is disturbing to say the least.

"Huh? Oh, it's pudding!" our problem child is delighted.

" 'I wouldn't say that lukewarm and gooey is the ideal serving method for pudding, but…' " Vert said.

" 'It's not just _any _pudding! Look, it's got my name written on it!' " from the seal of the pudding, is a name written indelible ink.

"You'd always make a ruckus unless you nabbed the one that had my name on it"

"Nep's pudding? Wh-What? Ugh! My head hurts…!" holding her head for dear life, her eyes are wide from shock from the sudden pain.

"Pea-Pea!?" Compa called out.

"Hey, you all right!?" Iffy asked in worry.

" 'Perhaps her memories are trying to resurface, or…' " that formula that is injected in her is keeping it strong to keep her memories locked up. We practically know that much, Vert.

" 'What'll we do? Are you gonna keep going?' "

"You bet. I believe in P-ko! Go for the gold, Plutie!"

"Mhm! Look at this, Peashy" Plutie pulled out doll of sorts.

"Ummm… A stuffed animal? Is that… mine?" she recognized it.

"It's yours… I made it for you…"

"You kept ripping it apart, so I fixed it a bunch of times…"

"I destroyed it… And you fixed it for me?"

"You left it behind when you went away, but I fixed it up and brought it here…" tears are starting to from the corners.

"I thought I'd give it to you when I saw you again, so… here" she held out the stuff animal.

"My stuff animal… You fixed it, Pl…oot?"

"Huh…? Did you say my name…?"

" 'Do you remember us!?' " Nepgear asked.

"Ugh… Ugggghhhhhhhhh!" she falls on her knees, clutching her head. Large drops of tears are falling down from her eyes. She clenched her teeth.

" 'Not quite yet!' " Blanc said, giving us a little more push.

" 'Just a little bit more…' "

"Then I'll reveal the big reveal! Did you forget _this_ drawing!?" Neptune pulled out a piece pf paper. Engraved on it is a child's drawing.

"Did…I draw that?" the child asked.

"Yup you did! You drew all of us, using your best drawing skills!"

"See? We're all here… Living in Planeptune's Basilicom" Plutie said in glee.

"I drew that? Everyone's there… Mhm, everyone _was _there…" a little more…

"Ploot, and Nepgear, and Iffy, and Compa, and Histoire, and Jaweed, and…!"

"Say my name, P-ko! Tell me who I am!" Neptune almost begs.

"You were so happy… You said such nice things…"

"When I showed you that picture, you were really happy, Neptuna!"

"Yeah, that's the stuff! Neptuna, indeed!" okay… time for my appearance.

"Good stuff. Now, open wide…"

"Eh…"

Reaching around her nose, I pinch it and pull it back, opening her mouth. She tries to pull my hand away, but since her strength is weak right now it doesn't. Taking out a bottle from my pocket, I pop it open and pour the contents on her open mouth.

"Agh… Ack…"

"…Mmgh!...*Gulp!*…*Gulp!*…" I continue pouring the contents of the formula into her open mouth. After pouring everything into her mouth I force it to close, still holding her nose.

"Good girl, good girl…" I slowly release her, giving her a breather.

"*Gulp!* *Gulp!*…_haa… haa…_Hgnnnnnnngh!" she drops down on the floor and curls up into a small ball.

" 'Hey, hey. Did you just gave her what I think you gave her?' " Blanc asked.

"Different one. But it would still hurt like shit…" I answer nonchalantly.

"_haa… haa… _Gnnnnngh!" she rolls, jerks, claws the cemented floor. Making any movement that might ease the pain in her head.

" 'Is that actually safe…? What did you gave her anyway?' "

"Painkillers…" I answer Noire.

" 'That doesn't look like any painkillers to me…' "

"Hggggggg! Gagchk…!_ Haa…. Haa…_"

" 'Would that actually work…?' " Vert asked.

"Maybe…"

"_Haa… _Hnnngh…!"

"_Haa… Haa…_"

"_Haa… Haa…_"

"_Haa..._"

"_..._"

She's grown quiet. Her forehead is on the floor. Her hands are blocking her ears. From everyone's angle, including mine, we can't see clearly what kind of face she's making right now. And I can't tell if my formula worked. My counter-complete formula may not be as effective to an incomplete formula. Hell, the margin of error that I calculated is mostly around 2%. Not much, true, but something that I can't ignore either.

Hmm… Let's try something…

"…"

Translation: Don't just sit there or you'll catch a cold…

"…" nothing? Or maybe…

"Uh-oh, what's wrong!?" Plutie runs over in worry.

"Are you hurt, P-ko? Did we fail!?" Neptune runs over as well. And to answer her question, on the contrary…

"Ugghhhh, take this, Neptuna!"

"GWOOAH!" Plutie gave her a good tackle on her solar plexus.

"I-It's been a while since my solar plexus suffered your headbutt, P-ko…" so actually missed having your breath be literally be blown away.

"Neptuna! It's you! It's really you!" she smudges her face in Neptune's chest. Enjoying her hug as she hugs back.

"Hehehe, do you remember now? What, you headbutt when you're happy? What a goofball!" Neptune holds her tightly.

"Peashy, thankgoodness…!" Plutie hugs her as well. Squeezing our problem child.

"Eh? Ploot is crying? Why?"

"This is all your fault. Causing us all so much trouble…" Iffy scolds jokingly. Tears are now flowing from her eyes.

"We can finally play together again!" Compa's large tears are flooding.

"Wahh! Everyone's crying!"

"I'm not crying…*sniff*" liar, Iffy is a liar.

" 'Welcome back, Peashy' " Nepgear greeted her, holding back her tears of joy.

"Welcome back, P-ko!"

"Weeeh! Welcome back…!"

"Welcome back, you little…!" I let my hand fall on her head, petting it like there's no tomorrow.

She turns to all of us and gave us a smile from ear to ear. An innocent smile of a child. Unblemished by problems, always playful. A smile that is nothing more but heartfelt. Pulling our heartstrings, caressing it at the same time.

"Mhm! I'm back!"


	131. Chapter 131

_A/N: I thought real life would never let me go. Overworked, and bottleneck brain._

* * *

Chapter 131:

"Yay, mission accomplished!" Neptune and I high fived.

Since we're resting, we might as well get a small celebration. We're just brushing off the drama from earlier. We are still in the enemy base after all. We aren't safe until we're at Planeptower eating desserts all day long. Then again, we aren't safe there as well.

So back to this. Compa is just giving everyone some light treatment. Peashy is being spoiled by Plutie. And the rest are just taking a rest, including me. I mean come on, if your kid is rolling around from whatever they their feeling and all you can do is watch, I'd bet my pride as a passerby that it's hard just to endure it. I'm sitting on one of the debris, a distance away, as I complain yet again about my vacation. Neptune is sitting beside me.

"*Sigh*… Am I really on vacation? I'm getting more heart attacks than ever these days…" if memory serves me right, vacation is meant to be something that would help me relax. I'm not relaxed at all.

*GRRRRR!*

"I'm hungry… Nepu~~…" Neptune complains beside me. Because of it, now I'm relaxed all of a sudden. Makes you think that my previous statement was a lie. Geez…

"Why don't you eat that pudding that you kept warmed up between your boobs?"

"Peashy is eating it!" she seems glad.

"Really?" looking over to our problem child seems she's having absolute bliss eating that warmed up dessert.

"Also I have some candy with me… Let's see…" Neptune places both hands inside her pocket. From the outside, seems her hands are rummaging around.

"Oh, here! I found some chocolate one and a strawberry one, which one do you like?" she held out two candies wrapped in distinct brown and red color.

"I'll take the strawberry one…" giving me one, I pop the candy into my mouth and chew on it. As with any candy, it sweet and taste not exactly like the fruit it specified. Since, after all, they are manufactured.

"Nmm…mnm… This chocolate doesn't taste like chocolate at all…"

"Aren't all candies like that…"

"I guess. Hey, I got a good Nep idea!" I've got a feeling of what it is that came passing through pudding filled brain of hers.

"Nepu! You just said something mean to me in your monologue!"

"Ridiculous. Blasphemy. Idiotic. I'd never do that…" how the hell does she know?

"Mmmgh!" she pouts as she gauges me. I look away trying to hold my laugh.

"Anyway… kh…" too funny! Way too funny!

"…What's this idea that you got?"

"Let's exchange candies and see if it taste better now…" that's um…

"My dear fiancée, please explain the significance of such an act?" I want to be polite since I clearly do not understand her way of thinking right now.

"Mmmm… So the candy would taste better?"

"Then it's a no…" I respectfully decline.

"Please! I really want to try it!" she inches closer, begging while staring directly to my eyes.

"Not happening…" I stare back indifferently.

"Please! I'll give you my pudding as a reward…"

"If it's warm I don't want it. Plus, it's just gross to exchange saliva filled candies…"

"Hrm…! Then how about later. No one would know right, our little experiment…" suggestive tone is suggestive.

"Inviting me, perhaps? Well, I guess I don't mind…" I guess I won't be sleeping tonight.

"Then it's a deal!" she held out a fist.

"Sure, sure" we bump fists. I'm surprised that her fist feels small and delicate.

"…I think we should get going, you love birds" Iffy suggested coming to us.

"Can't you give us a bit of time to rest? We're still recovering from all the drama"

"…I would. But look, Peashy is fast asleep…" her thumb over her shoulder, points behind her. Neptune and I look take a peek, and sure enough, our problem child is fast asleep in Plutie's arms. The others are just watching over at the serene sight.

"I guess…"

"Okay" Neptune hops up and so some weird strict movements.

"Go! Go! Megaforce!" she transforms afterwards.

"What's with that?" I want to laugh so hard right now that it's killing my stomach.

" 'Mhm, let's go home…' " she states.

"Nah, I'm not leaving just yet…" I said as I stand and stretch.

" 'Hm? Why? We got P-ko back…' "

"Yeah… there's that… But I've got something to do first…" I'd rather not tell you… it's unsettling.

" 'Are you going to be alright?' " a serious question. Geez, I'm one lucky guy.

"I'm always alright" with a slight joke in my tone, she nods.

" 'Okay Iffy, let's go. We're going home…' "

"Eh? But what about Jared?"

" 'He'll be okay' "

"But…"

"I'll be okay… don't worry. Don't wait for me, alright?" Iffy nods. Agreeing to leave me behind.

* * *

"Haa… Finally, that S.O.B. is behind this door…" I heave a sigh of relief. Getting here is not that hard… is what I would've said, but with all the devastation behind, it's hard just joking around.

"Gh… ack…!" I feel a hand grabbing my leg. Looking, there's a dude trying to fight the inevitable, stopping me from my tracks. Must've miss the heart.

"Can't you just let it go? It would feel so much better if you do…"

"I'm… not… you… mon…!"

*BANG!*

"…That word again" it pisses me off every time.

Before me, stands a sliding door. It's as high as the corridor's wall, and wide as though it could fit the width of a truck. I reload my gun and swing the blood off from my knife. I breathe in, a chest full of air. Then breathe out slowly, calming myself from what's going to happen next.

Sliding the door open, I'm met with a dark room. It's not that small nor that big. There are lights, but rather, everywhere there are monitors after monitors after monitors, each showing a room. They're surveillances. And in the middle of the room, sitting on his chair, is a pink robot with green linings. He's already facing me once I entered. As though expecting an old friend to come.

"Yo… cutie…" he greets.

"Yo" I greeted back. Slowly, my voice getting darker.

"…You are a very… troublesome man…"

"I'm a fan of yours…"

"…And it would have been so much better if it was my Noire that came here…"

"Noire has someone different on her mind…"

"Eh? Seriously?" he's taken a light tone now. Oh well, better play along.

"Seriously. I think I saw her confess to someone…"

"What!? My sources about Noire is never wrong!" he turns to one of the monitors where a keyboard and mouse is laid in front of it. He types non-stop as switching between windows in record speed. Probably finding the truth behind my claim.

"Not here! Not here! My Noirey is going to be stolen from me without my knowledge such a pinch!"

"And I also heard that he rejected her…" I add. He stops typing.

"And?"

"Hrm… Don't know about afterwards…"

"Did she cry?"

"Dunno. Probably"

"Ah! Noire crying in her bed while thinking of her failed love is a rare sight! But alas the camera that I bugged inside her room once again is now gone!" so you've been sneaking in her room? I better tell her that.

"It'd be a shame. A tear jerked Noire would be fun for a tease…" even I'm getting the evil thoughts.

"...but I didn't came here for that, you know…" I quickly remind him.

"Shame. And we would have been the best of buds too…" he turns slowly towards me.

"We could, if you spill everything you know…"

"…What are you talking about?" don't play coy.

"C'mon, you know… those _experiments _that you've been doing…" there is no word that best describes it.

"Oh, that… My lips are sealed…" he lightly hammers his other palm.

"Really? What would I do to unseal it?" I grip the knife ever so stronger. And my trigger finger is now ready to squeeze.

"…A dance with my Noirey… is what I wanted, but I guess you'd do…" still 9 blades fan out from behind him, pointing towards me.

"Okay then…" I raise the gun and point it towards him. My 'eyes' appear, as I take aim.

"…Let's dance!"

*BANG!*


	132. Chapter 132

Chapter 132:

*SCHWING!* *SCHWING!* *SCHWING!* *SCHWING!*

"Tch…!" fuck, too many!hi

"What's wrong? Can't get close enough to me…"

"Unfortunately, I have a thing with hard-to-get…! …!" I roll to the side dodging another one thrusting towards me.

With grazes and shallow bleeding from my shoulder, I still manage to survive from the onslaught of 9 blades thrusting from out of nowhere. For the past few minutes, all I've been doing is dancing around while he sits on his chair watching amusedly at my performance. Shooting them doesn't help, they still thrust towards you regardless. And a knife barely parries them, but even that, I have to use so much strength.

*SCHWING!*

Another one thrusts my way. Behind me and most probably at 32 degrees high.

*SCHWING!*

Another one, at 10 o'clock.

*SCHWING!* *SCHWING!*

There's 2 more on both sides. On the left, it's shooting from ground and on the right from the air slightly below altitude from the first one. He's cutting my escape routes. I can block both, the gun isn't much use here anyway, but the other 2 would be a problem.

"Damn…!" didn't give me enough time to think! Those things are already getting dangerously close to me.

*CLASH!* *BANG!* *CLASH!* *CLANG!*

I block the sword that coming from behind. Shoot at him, then instinctively block the one upfront. The bullet got blocked by another blade. They keep on pushing, giving me a hard time just to block. The 2 on the sides accelerates to me, knowing that I can't block either of them.

*SCHWING!* *SCHWING!*

"Tch…!" from below, there is another one that is rushing to me. And above as well. He pinned me.

Thinking fast. I leap to the side while crossing my arms, letting the 2 blades that I've been holding clash against each other. The 2 above and below quickly changed their intended trajectory. The other 2 have slightly shifted their angle. Ready my knife…!

*SCHWING!* *SCHWING!*

*CLASH!* *CLASH!*

"Dammit…!"

"Hoo!" our guy sitting on his chair praised.

*Clap!* *Clap!* *Clap!*

"That was pretty good…"

"Yeah? I could have done better..."

I'm using the gun to block 3 blades from piercing me at the front and the knife at the one on my rear. My right arm won't last long if I keep holding the blades with a gun. Plus with the weird way that my hand is holding the gun, I'm in a very tight spot.

*CLASH!*

"…!" two more appears and clashes with my knife. My arms are now struggling keeping 3 blades from both sides. I bend my knees, hoping to give to a little bit of strength to my arms.

'_…I'd rather not go all out…_' but the option is so tempting.

Think me. Think. 3 on each side. They follow me everywhere. I could do one of those faints that some shows tend to show. But the real thing is actually scary. They change angles the moment I change my displacement. They do however miss me by mere millimeters, probably within their margin of error. But if all I can do is duck at the very last moment, then I'm going to be cut into ribbons the moment I make a mistake.

Raising my leg, behind me. I swing it forward and let my body get carried by the momentum, performing a kick the moon backflip. Mid-air, facing downwards, with my arms still blocking the blades from rushing to me, I push them down as they try to change angles. Then I cross up my arms, making the pair of 3 blades clash one another.

"Hoo…"

Since the gun is basically not usable anymore, as I continue my flip, I threw the gun at him. 2 blades intercepts it. Landing, I grip my knife and lunge myself towards him as 4 blades rushes to me from angles that are difficult to avoid.

'_This is going to be tight…!_'

2 blades, one above and one up front. Still running, I twist my body and flip over to the side, avoiding them both with a graze of my shirt.

*CLASH!*

Then 2 blades behind me. I make a break for it as the 2 give chase.

"That's reckless…"

2 more above, they rush down. My instincts pull me down and I on the floor dodging the blades above me by hair's end.

*BAM!* *BAM!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

The 2 blades that are giving chase have now been stopped on their tracks. That's 6.

"Same tactic, huh… How about something like this…"

"Shit…!"

3 blades suddenly appeared above me, they appeared dangerously close. They drop down like in swiftness of a lightning bolt.

*BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!*

I leap to the side. My hair getting grazed and the ends of my pants as well. I quickly swing my arm, throwing the knife towards him. It flies towards him with speed. He didn't even nudge as a blade appears and intercepts with it.

*CLASH!*

The knife we parried, and spins helplessly away. I run to it, and grab it in mid-flight, still continuing my run towards him.

A blade appears down low, aiming for my foot. I take a step closer as it rushes to me. I step on the blade like pedestal. Another blades flying to me, with my body already in motion, I flip over and fold, dodging the blade as well as move my center of gravity.

Another one comes rushing, with my shifted center of gravity, I use it as an axis to complete my flip, again avoiding it. Still in mid-air, 2 more comes rushing. Quickly analyzing, I continue on with another flip, separate my feet a bit and with power swing them both, kicking the air as though kicking the moon, going much farther.

With quickly recover, by bringing both feet together as I fall from the highest point of the arc. Another one comes rushing from the side. Since I still have more space to move on, I do one more flip, to cool off from the trick I did, and land safely on the ground in front of him.

With my knife ready, I face him as I point it dead center on his face.

"Yo" my 'eyes stare' through that helmet of his.

"…" oh, feeling the effects?

"You are a very, very, tenacious man…" he comments. Not changing posture that he kept from the beginning of the battle.

"I have no tolerance over shitty parents after all…" my 'glare' did not waver even with the light tone in my voice.

"…We would have been the best of friends if you didn't knew about that…"

"Really? Unfortunately, I'm very picky when it comes to people I trust…"

"…Oh…"

"Really, really. After all, I've have people who are very dear to me…"

"Oh dear. I can smell the love in the air…"

"Really? It does give away, huh…"

"Just like your back"

"…" my 'glare' hasn't wavered.

I can feel my instincts warning what's behind me. I know there are 9 blades just eager to impale my body like a voodoo doll. Like a hunter, they wait for their target to make a mistake, or when the moment he had convinced himself that it is safe. A moment of hesitation and moment of surprise as well. Can't get away from this situation.

"Checkmate…"

"Gh…!" something impales me. A foreign object moves through me as though I'm butter. From my chest, there's a blade sticking out smeared in blood. You can't feel pain this early on, rather, you can only feel the numbness and weight of the thing inside you. Unless it slowly pushes…

"Hnggg…!" …just like that, that all my nerves react and my brain perceives it as pain. A tickle of my blood slowly pours out, but it doesn't bleed profusely. Slowly, there's blood climbing to my mouth, and I can't help but let it drizzle down from the corners.

"Gh…!" another thrusts into me, I can't feel them anymore. Numbing pain paralyze me. The force of the thrust onto my back pushed me forward towards him. Slowly, my bleeding began to quicken the pace.

"Gah…! Ghack…!" 2 more. They both shot through my liver and my stomach. The weight on my torso is getting heavier. The shirt that was underneath the bullet fest, now feels rather wet. My pants are being dripped from the iron smelled red from my body.

My vision starts to blur. My body is slowly not responding to me. My knees gave way, and I fall on both knees as though expecting an execution. I breathe roughly, trying to get air into my brain. And my 'eyes' turned back to normal. The man in a pink robot suit before me stands up, as though standing to be my executioner.

"…You should… really take off… that helmet of yours…"

"Don't worry dear. I was planning to do just that" with both hands, he takes off his helmet. A familiar face greets me with a sneer painted on his face.

"…So you really are a pretty boy…" I comment. As a guy myself, I can't help feel a bit jealous. I do have a face to show off, but it's rough on the edges.

"…I do have a heart of a maiden, so keeping up appearances is only natural…"

"…Appearances, huh… _haa… haa…_" I look down…

"…Then… how do you appear…" …I gather a bit of strength.

"When you look into these…!" I raise my head. Showing him my 'eyes'.

"…!"

*Thud!*

He falls butt first on the floor. Skin now whiter than snow. Sweat suddenly pouring down. All his hairs standing up. He tries to run away, but from what he's seeing, he's terrified that he can't even move.

"Tell me…" I ask casually. Despite that state that I'm in.

"Hiiiii!"

"Tell me…"

"Hiiiiiiiiiiii!"

"Tell me…"

"Hya… GUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"


	133. Chapter 133

Chapter 133:

"_Haa… Haa… Haa… Haa…_"

"Damn it…! Haa…! And that's 4… fuck…!" pulling those blades out hurts a lot more than being stabbed with it. And Kevlar vest does little to stop those things…

Sitting on the corner of the room, shaking like as though freezing, is our pink robot guy with his helmet off. He's holding he's head, eyes wide as saucers, teeth rattling. He looks so small now despite he's height when standing. Maybe I did a little too much, but oh well, sins doesn't go unpunished after all.

"No… stop… please… anything… anything… don't talk! Haa… haa…!" he holds his hears trying to block something.

"Damn now my shirt have holes on them. You do know it's difficult to sew your own clothes right?"

"_Haa… _Stop talking…! You're not real…! You're not real…! You're not real….!"

"See? So you do understand. Next time, don't do get all stabby stabby… It's really difficult…"

I could go home right now, since I've pretty much done what I want. What? Want me to kill this bastard like what I did with Yvoire? Naah… He'll kill himself eventually. Seeing him like this though, I confess it does bring a small empty joy in me.

"What to do with my clothes though… Oh right, I think I did a clean headshot a guy out there…" maybe I could borrow his clothes. Although, I have to do something about the name tag; but not really of an issue.

"_Haa… Hii… Haa… _No… Stop murmuring… Stop talking… Stop laughing!"

"No choice then. I'll loot some clothes… wait, hey, you have some clothes that fits me?" I ask. He's shaking like a freezing dog.

"They won't stop… They won't stop… They won't stop… They won't stop!"

"I'll take that as a no. Better get going then and loot some clothes…" picking myself up from the floor. I take off the Kevlar and my shirt and headed out. Finding the right clothes for me to wear.

"See ya. Make sure you commit suicide sooner or later..." or it won't stop, ever.

* * *

"I'm back… Hrmm…!" upon greeting, something went flying to me. I simply move my head to the side.

"Hey Jare…Woooh! Where'd you get that?" Neptune asks.

Right now, I'm wearing a full on ACU jacket and pants as well as cap to match. The shoes that I was wearing before, didn't match quite right. So I have to find a dude that has boots that would match with my size. Wearing these brings back a lot of memories though.

"It's like you came back from a war…"

"Technically, we all did" that was war alright.

"Anyway, what's with the baseball glove on and what the hell did yo…! Histy!?" it's only now that I just got a look at that thing had flown to me. Histy, who's hugging a baseball, is helplessly dizzy judging from her eyes that are dazed and unfocused. I pick her up, peel her off from the baseball, threw it back to Neptune, and put my fairy friend inside my breast pocket.

Let's see here, we have Neptune and Peashy playing catch from the dinner table. Plutie just staring at them. Compa at the kitchen preparing the snacks. Iffy helping out. Nepgear, Blanc, Vert and Noire sitting on the well carpeted living area. Right… This seems to be a scene that I'm familiar with. Where's the robot, the rat and the little girl…?

I make my way to the group sitting on the carpet. They're the most peaceful bunch so it'd help me relax a bit.

"Are you okay, Histoire? Also, welcome back Big Brother" Nepgear asks and greets. I give her a high five as greeting.

"C-Compared to the joy I feel from seeing her again, this is…aaagggghhhh…(Д;)" she groans.

"Sooner or later, you'll get crushed into a ball by this insane child" Noire said.

"She's going to move on before that even happens"

"I could protect you at my Basilicom. I already have one freeloader, so what's one more?" good idea, Blanc. That way, she won't get squashed like a bug.

"I… I… I must decline. ヽ"(_ _;) Ahem! Well then…"

"The situation has calmed down for the time being. Shall we discuss what will happen now?" oh, debriefing. I really don't need this right now, but it's important. The things I do for love…

"Nep-Nep, Pea-Pea, snacks are ready! Let's eat them all up!" Compa called from the kitchen.

"Yay! Snacks, snacks!" the three comes rushing in, led by Peashy.

"Hooray! Compa made a cake…!" um, no, Plutie. That was left over's from the day before.

"Oh yeah, Peashy hasn't had Compa's cake before" Neptune remembers.

"It's so good, it's like eating a rainbow or whatever! It'll melt you face!" that's just terrible. Maybe I'll stop eating cake now…

"Nep-Nep, stop exaggerating…"

"Melt my face!? No! Scary!" see, even the child doesn't want that to happen.

"Let's ignore that side of the room and carry on" Noire suggests.

"Certainly…" Histy agrees.

"I want to eat some cake, you know…" I mumble. My brain is squealing to eat cake.

"Sorry. My sister is… I'm just… sorry" Nepgear apologizes.

"Stop apologizing or you're not having cake tonight…" I pet her head, warning her as well. I need to eat something…

"Um, having saved the girl, does that mean we have eliminated the threat of Eden?" Vert asked.

"…Yeah, we've basically gotten rid of the Seven Sages, too" Blanc said.

"I'm a little worried about where that creeper went, but otherwise, I agree" Noire said.

"…Still though. The citizen's would take a while before they go back to their respective countries"

"That'd be a gi…"

"Great Roy G. Biv's raven! This is a world-class cake, except it's the only one!" Neptune screams in delight.

"Aww, silly Nep-Nep. Let me wipe some of the crumbs off of your face, okay?"

"Are you okay? You face isn't melting, is it?" Peashy asks.

"We're just fine… Here, open up for the airplane…!" Plutie held out a spoonful of cake.

"Like I was saying…" their ruckus caused Noire to stutter. She wants some cake as well.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Please don't pay any attention to my sister or those around her!" Nepgear apologizes some more.

"So our main threat and the villains responsible for it are all gone, right? Here's some cake, Jared" Iffy takes a seat beside me and offered a slice of cake for me.

"Oh goodie. Been craving for some…" taking the plate, I take the fork, take a slice and eat it… Wonderful.

"Right. But to be quite blunt, _we _are all enemies as well… Thank you, IF" Vert received her piece of the cake.

"…I don't feel like fighting any of you now. Thanks" Blanc says her statement. Clearly tired.

"Hmf. If you act so relaxed, Lastation will rule all of Gamindustri"

"Don't give her some cake, Iffy"

"Okay. Here, Gear" Noire was about to receive it, but instead redirects the cake to Nepgear.

"Oh, thanks IF"

"Hey!" Noire is now angry.

"Hmhmhmm. There she goes with her blustering" Vert said.

"…If Lonely Heart wants to go back being all by herself again, that's fine with me"

"D-Don't call me that! And what do you mean 'again'!? And why'd you tell her not to give me one!?"

"Why? You're planning to take over the world, right? Hmm… This cake is yummy. Here, Histy…"

"Ahmf…*munch* *munch*… It is tasty. （⌒▽⌒）"

"Geez! You know, that was a metaphor!"

"I'm pretty sure you meant that…" her flustered face is golden that I want to laugh so bad right now. Now my day is complete.

"Um, so basically, there's not really anything in particular that we need to do, right?" Nepgear said.

"For the most part. The sudden loss of a nation would disrupt economics and some other complicated stuff. But it's not going to be that hard to control though"

"So we can all return to our respective nations and get back to work" Histy adds.

"Okey-dokey, that means it's time for naps, everyone…!"

"What? You already wolfed down that cake, Lady Plutia!?" the hell. Half of the cake is now missing.

"Nuh-uh… Little Peashy took most of mine…"

"Gimme yours too, Neptuna!"

"Not happnenin', squirt! I'm gonna have my cake and eat it, too!"

"There are still a few slices left…" Compa tells her.

"No! I want hers!" Peashy complains.

"If that's how she's going to be, I'll get seconds. Want some Nepgear?"

"Not a very big one, please…" she gave me her plate.

"Okay" I head over to the cake resting on the counter. Taking a new plate, I cut three pieces and neatly place them on the plate.

"They only seem to know how to work hard at relaxing" Blanc comments.

"Plutia, do you intend to skip out on work by using that old excuse? Σ(￣m￣ "

"No… I was thinking about working while taking it easy…"

"What's the difference? They sound like the same thing to me" Noire said.

"Here Noire, stop sulking. the one on the forearm is yours" with careful balance, I managed to sit back on the floor with carrying three plates.

"I'm not sulking!" with less resistance from her, she took the plate from me. I think I heard a thanks.

"Nepgear…" I gave Nepgear her second slice.

"Thanks"

"Nope! If we try our best and work really hard, it means Neppy and Neppy Jr. and Jarey will go home sooner…"

"Oh…" the little sister-in-law to-be was reminded of that fact.

"And if that happens right after Peashy came home, it would so saaaaad…" it definitely would.

"That's a fair point. I can't imagine a life where I am separated from Nepgear…" cliché line is cliché, Vert.

"Haa! Just thinking about it makes me want to rip my heart out of my gigantic chest!" she screams.

"Say Gesus while kneeling down on one knee, a hand on the chest and the other on raised up" I directed.

"Gesus!" she really did it. Where's my phone when I need it?

"…I think 'gigantic' was a bit excessive" Blanc is self-conscious.

"But Plutia, these three must return home at some point" Histy explains.

"The situation in their world is growing worse and worse…"

"Aww, I know… I know, but… I want to take it easy for now… Is that a no-no…?" Plutie's voice is begging.

"I cannot stop you. You all have worked very hard for quite a while. A break is in order" she gives in. Knowing that there isn't much time anyway…

"Aww, you're the best, Histy!"

"Thank you both very much" the little sister said.

"That's kind of you, Lady Plutia. If possible, try to always be like this… Please" Iffy prays.

"…I'm a bit jealous… Plutia cares about you so much…" Blanc confesses.

"Yeah. What's worse is that the people she's grown attached to are so… ugh…" what's with the last one.

"C'mon, P-ko! That's like your third slice, isn't it!?" Neptune shouts.

"Nope! One, two… four… It's my fourth!" that's wrong.

"Three comes after two! You doofus!"

"Y-You ate everyone else's…" Compa is shocked that a child can mow down almost all of the cake.

"*Sigh*… never a dull moment…"


	134. Chapter 134

Chapter 134:

Aaah… Bath. The one place that people can be themselves. This closed space of a room is able to hide away prying eyes that impede us every day. It's mostly the reason why people sing, even though they are out of tune, and not get embarrassed about it later. Since after all, it's long been engraved to us that no one should peek during bath time. And that privacy in the bath is at its maximum.

"Of course, that doesn't apply to everyone…"

" 'What's with that…?' "

*SPLASH!*

" 'I'll be scrubbing your hair next…' "

"Yes ma'am…" Neptune, in her HDD self, scrubs my hair with shampoo, forming a nice lather. Her fingers massage my scalp comfortably.

"To answer your question, I was just thinking as to how we've gone to the point of washing each other like it was the most natural thing to do…" not that I'm complaining.

" 'Hm… Weren't you the one that suggested that?' "

"No… you just barged in…"

" 'Ahaha…' " a small giggle.

" 'So…' "

"Hrm?"

" '…You have some explaining to do…' "

"Right…" really now, how worried can she get. The reason I didn't tell her the last part or our little 'war' was due to the fact that I'm angry. So wanting to be cautious, and not scare her off, I made sure that I keep it to myself. Emotions are hard to control after all.

"...I just went to take out the 'trash'…" but since I've been relieved, I think I can tell her.

" '…I see' " I feel two masses pressing against my back, arms around my neck, and soft skin against my cheek.

"Not gonna ask the specifics?"

" 'I'm just glad that you're safe…' " her cheek snuggles up to me.

"Sorry for making you worry…" I reach my hand on her head, and petted it.

" 'Mhm… Here, I'm going to splash water over you…' " I close my eyes awaiting water shower over me.

*SPLASH!* *SPLASH!*

With two dippers full of water splashing over me, the lather on my head is completely removed. I wipe my face with my hand, making sure that no residue would touch my eyes. It stings like hell after all. Feeling the weight behind me gradually disappear, I open my eyes and turn around to see Neptune getting ready to enter the tub.

" 'Oh… the water's gone a bit cold…' " she says with a hand in the tub.

"We did wash each other for a time…" I stand and headed over to the tub. I enter the tub slowly. Due to the change in mass in the tub, the water rises and overflows, spilling onto the floor.

" 'Excuse me…' " my fiancée enters as well. Spilling more water, and taking a spot on my hips rather than between my legs. She leans back, as I wrap my arms around her, resting her weight on me.

" 'I'm not too heavy, right?' "

"I don't mind if it's your weight…"

" 'Thank goodness… Then can I lean back some more…' "

"Sure…" I feel a little more weight. But it's comforting so I don't mind.

" '…We haven't been this close in a while…' "

"Aside from a few nights sleeping together… We haven't really…" and no, we didn't have sex at the time.

" 'I was really worried about P-ko…' "

"I know…" I held her tighter to me.

" '…I thought our plan wouldn't work...' "

"Really? I was thinking that it would work either way…"

" 'What's that stuff you made her drink anyway?' "

"Apple juice…" I lied.

" 'Liar' " she got me.

"But it does taste like apple juice… want to drink some?"

" 'Remembering how she reacted to that… it would hurt your head…' "

"That's because she has some memory blocking drugs in effect. For a normal person, you'd just get some flashbacks…"

" 'Really?' "

"No, it'll hurt like shit…" I tell her the actual truth.

" '*Sigh*… How did I fall in love you again…?' "

"Dunno… But aside from that… let me ask…"

" 'Hrm?' "

"Why are you grinding your ass on my dick?" I've been feeling it for quite a while now. My dick's been stimulated by smooth and softness of her butt.

" 'Well, it's been a while since we've last done it so…' " she pressed her crotch against my manhood.

"Haha… I guess it is…" well, we did make a small deal back at the base. Turning her head to the side, I lean in to her lips.

" 'Mmm… *Slurp*…*Schlp*…*Smack* Mm *Smack*…' "

Her hand reaches for my manhood. Tenderly, pumping it from base to tip.

" 'Hahnn *Slurp* Mm *Smack* Jared… Mm *Smack* *Schlp* *Smack*…' "

Soon, wet sounds of our deep kiss echoes inside the bath.

" 'Mm… *Slurrrp*…mm *Smack* *Smack* *Smack*…' "

She thrusts her tongue forward seeking my own.

" '*Schlp*…*Slurp*… mm*Smack* *Smack* *Smack*…' "

She easily found it, and coils it around with hers. Our tongues dances around, exchanging saliva.

" 'Mmhh… *Schp*…*Slurp* *Slurp*…mmm, *Smack*…Jared…*SlurpSlurp*' "

As intense as our tongues are, her hand traveled up my pole with the same intensity. Occasionally, stimulating tip with her palm before returning to its pumping movement.

" 'Mm *Smack* *Schlp* *Smack* *Smack* *Slurp* *Smack*…' "

" 'Nm… *Smack* …*Slurrrp*…' "

Our saliva drips from the corners of our mouth.

" '*Schlp**Schlp*…mmf, *Slurp*…*Smack**Smack*…*Schlp*…' "

We lick off the corner of the others lips. Making sure we don't leave any left overs.

" '*Slurp*…*Schlp*… *Slurp*… *Slurp*…' "

" 'Funwaaa… _haa… haa… haa' _"

At last, we finally separated. Her lips glistening from saliva, hanging openly, with the tip of her tongue slightly out, greets me. The picture of which turns me on.

"You know, you're going to make me cum first if you rub it like that…"

" '…Hm? I don't see the problem…Ehe' "

She's still rubbing my dick with her hand. Done with pleasuring the tip, and just forcing me to cum from her handjob.

"It is" I don't mind, but men have pride in this kinds of things after all. I put a hand on her wrist stopping her handjob.

"But I think it's better if I do it there…" I nibble on her ear, as I rub my hand on a part below her stomach.

" 'Mmm… Hahhh… Mhm…' " she let out a moan.

She lifts herself a bit as she takes my manhood, and guides it to her entrance. Then slowly sunk her hips down, initiating the penetration.

" 'Nnha… aaa…' "

I hold her hips for support as she slowly falls. The sensation of passing through her tight entrance sends bubbling pleasure up my back.

" 'Hahi! Nn…! Hahu… ha, _haaa…._' "

Her back shivers sexily, letting out a carnal panting noise. Warm flesh throbs around me, bringing my senses concentrated into feeling more of it. It's maddening.

" 'Hahh, ahh… mmm… ahh…' "

Her insides fully embraces me. Even through the water of the tub, I can tell how wet she is by easily I've slid inside her. That or the water helped out.

" 'Hahi, Jared… ah… ah… Nn…' "

I can feel myself expanding even more inside her as I start to slowly move my hips.

" 'Ahuu, huu… han, nnnu… huu.. Jared… nnnu!' "

It must because we haven't done it in a while now, but her insides are hot that I feel like it could burn me.

" 'Nm! Ah! Ah, fuaaaa…! Ha, ahu… ah, ah… nnah.. ahuu…' "

I move slowly, gauging at her reaction. She's reacting pretty strongly…

"You're that aroused, huh…"

" 'Ha…but, It's…been…! So long…! Ha, ah!' "

" 'Hya, yaa, nnuuu, haaa! Huu…I-I'm! Nuu…!' "

" 'It's so good…! Ah…! Nnn…! Aan! Ya, ah… ah, nnn, ahu, fuwaa…' "

Pushing in, I'm swallowed so much it's almost as if she wringing out my soul. And pulling out, it clings to me for dear life.

" 'Ah! Hay, ah…. Haa, ah, hua… nn! Ah! Nnn! Nn… uu…!' "

Each time she falls, I thrust and churn her insides.

" 'Yan, mfuaa, auuu!... nnyu, hu! Nnn! …nnnu… nn, nn, nnhuaa, ah, aaaah!' "

I thrust in and move around, rubbing her abdomen before I pull and thrust in again.

" 'Jared…nn!' "

Neptune looks back at me with a flushed face. Her eyes out of focus, and her mouth making noise in response to our act. Affection wells up so strongly that I wanted to stay connected like this forever.

" 'Ha, ha, aaauuu, I'm… about to! Jared…nn…! Hua, haa, ha! Aannnn!' "

I rub her insides hard. Making sure I hit her weak spot.

" 'Ha, hiiin!' "

As I rub around the basse of her hips, she makes a sweet voice I've never heard before.

" 'Th…There…there… auu! That's… hua, hiin, huanm ha! Ah, ah, it feels…!' "

She grabs onto the sides of the tub, and started moving of her own accord in time to my rhythmic thrust.

"Neptune…Gh!"

" 'Ha, ha… huu! I like this…! Auu, nnnuuu…ah! Haa…! Ah, ah…!' "

My grunts and her moans mix together in the bath. My body reacts, pushing my tip farther inside her soft flesh that it hurts, churning her insides up.

" 'Ann! Ha! Nnaaa! I-I'm! Auu, nnn! Ah, huaa… haa.. ahu… hau, annuuu… ann!' "

Each time my hips collide with hers, the water of tub is disturbed roughly splashing onto the ceramic floor of the bath.

" 'Hunyaaa… ah, aannn…! Nn, nnaaa! G, good! Ahaaaa… haa, ah! …haa, nnhaaa…!' "

" 'Ah! Aaan! S-so… rough…! Aaaaah, nn! Nnn! Nn! Haaaaa…!' "

She says that, but her movements is making it rougher for me.

" 'Hua, aaah… I… c-can't… keep this… nuuu… uuu! M-my head's…going white…!' "

We share pleasure. Our thoughts start to cut off and melt away.

" 'Hua… han, nnnuu… I-I can't! Hua! Ah, huaaaa! I can't! I'm, ah! Nn, nn, nn, nnaaaa!' "

Neptune's movements are so harsh they're almost convulsions. Her soft flesh writhes around me in more complicated ways, guiding my sperm deep inside her.

" 'Ah! Ah! Ah! 'Ahreed…! I-I'm, I'm, I can't, a-ahhh…!' "

"Me… too…!"

I hold her tight, violently thrusting. Seeking to push her into climax.

" 'Aaaaaaaaaah! J-Jared…! Ah, ah, ah, ah…! Hua, ha! Nnnnnnaaaaa….!' "

"Neptune…!"

We both cry like animals.

" 'Ah! Ah!...nnn…!' "

She suddenly loses grip and falls backwards. My dick pierces her insides, sending sparks from where we're connected.

"Nn…!"

" 'Huaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa….!' "

I pump all of my beastly desire into her.

" 'Ah! Hia! Haa…! I-it's so… hot…!' "

I irregularly ram my hips into her multiple times, driven on by the strong pleasure. My semen overflows, with clear distinction, floats into the water.

" 'Ah…haa… ah…! So much... ah… ah…!' "

" 'Uha… ah… Jaaared…' " she calls out.

"Neptune…" I convulse with sweet numbness.

I finally stop ejaculating. After expelling all of my desires, I lean towards her gasping lips.

" '_Haa… haa… _mm*Smack*…*Schlp*…' "

" 'Hahhh, ahh, mm, *Smack* ohh, *Slurp* *Smack* mm *Smack*…' "

Her slick tongue meets mine, and I pull it to suck on it like a candy.

" '*Slurrrp*…mm *Smack* *Smack* *Smack*…' "

" '*Schlp*…*Slurp*…mn *Kiss* *Smack*' "

" 'Hahh, ah, mm, mmhn, *Smack*… haa...ah… Jared…' "

We finally split. I snuggle my cheek against hers, trying to catch my breath. I playfully give her light kisses on the cheek, and hold her tightly to me.

" 'Jared…' " she whispers gently.

"Hm…?"

" 'The moon is beautiful tonight…' "

"It sure is…"


	135. Chapter 135

Chapter 135:

It's kind of funny really. That we introduce ourselves in a hundred million ways. And yet, they all fade in the quaint textures of the day. No matter the obscureness, the silliness, nor the jokes the he said, or the cute smile she showed. They all seem to last, and all seem to pass. We slowly watch as the 'now' becomes a 'was' unconsciously. As though staring outside from a moving train.

It's somehow funny. That we are all born in a little box and slapped a label on it, to keep us organized. And overtime we learn to make ourselves comfortable. Packing ourselves in a hundred different combinations. Until we feel like we belong and can wear our labels proudly.

It's funny to think, that at the end of our long resume, that we are still only strangers. That we cannot truly know the insides of each other's hearts. That we all wear a mask, hiding at least a part of us from the rest. Playing a role that is not truly 'you'.

We wonder if it was fine. To write our identities by hand. Speaking only for ourselves in our own words. Taking our chances to meet each other and ask: "Who are you?"

It's always been funny to think. How we all managed to live under the same roof for so long. And that we never stop introducing ourselves.

"Aha… Whacha makin' Jaweed?" Peashy asked excitedly seated at the counter.

"Mac &amp; Cheese stuffed meatloaf stuffed in a bread…" I said as I knead the dough. In a sense it's like a hamburger, the difference, is that the things inside that in between of the patties are inside the bread.

"Hoo! That sounds tasty!"

"Perfect for lunch"

It goes to show how much she remembers. Of course, she remembers me, which is a relief. I was expecting, in theory, that she'd remember some events before she was drugged. But in actuality, she remembered so many if not all of the things prior to that point. She even remembered how many times we went to the park just to play.

"Hmm"

Of course, not everyone is as relieved as me.

"Hrrmmmmm…"

"…"

"Uh, what's up?" having felt all those disturbing stares she turns to look at the three, obviously, Noire, Vert and Blanc.

"Hrm? What're you plotting?" Neptune asked as she takes a break from playing a game.

"Don't a bully to Peashy…!" Plutie assumes the worst and made sure to tell them off.

"It's nothing like that. We three merely share a common interest" Vert says in defense.

"What interest is that?" Nepgear asked. She's helping me right now, and is cooking the burger part. And no, I didn't taught her.

"Well, she remembered all of you, but…" Noire starts explaining.

"…Does she remember us…?" Blanc ends the explanation. So, what? Insecurity much. But I do understand where it's coming from.

"Uh, good question. You all weren't around much, and she's a little idiot…" Neptune said.

"Don't call me idiot! I'm smarter than you, Neptuna!" nice one Peashy.

"Okay, let's give her a test… Peashy, who is this lady?" Plutie extends her hand to Noire.

"For some reason, this is making me nervous" Noire straightens up for no reason.

"Um…Nowar?" Peashy takes a close enough guess.

"*Sigh* Close enough"

"…I'm up next. I barely spoke with her, I wonder…" Blanc steps up.

"Um, the red and white strawberry cake lady…

"Strawberry?" no matter how I look at her, she doesn't appear to be strawberry lady in my eyes.

"…is Blanc! Blanc!"

"…Correct. I'm not thrilled with _how _you remembered me, but whatever"

"Now, I'm the last one" Vert nervousness fails to hide in her voice.

"Uh…"

"Oh my…" the child is having a hard time. Okay, I think we need to get the tissues ready.

"Wait. I recall this child denouncing me as the 'old one'. She may say something else odd!" that'd be sad.

"Jared, Nepgear, if Vertypoo tries anything funny, hold her back" Neptune gave us some commands to work on.

"O-okay…" Nepgear agrees to it. Not knowing what it meant. I don't either.

"Uhhh… V… Vee…" the name is at the tip of the child's tongue.

"A bit more…! Spit it out…!" Vert encourages.

"B…BerBer! You're BerBer!" Haahahaha!

"B-BerBer…?" Vert cocks her head in question.

"BerBer…?" even Plutie cocks her head in question.

"Pfft! That's vaguely stupid, mostly wrong, but also awesome" couldn't help but laugh.

"Hehe. It's a cute nickname" Noire giggled.

"Doesn't match her appearance. This is comedy gold"

"Huh? I'm wrong? She's not BerBer?" Hahahahaha! Stop please…! I can't do my work properly!

"Um, Big Brother you okay…?"

"Tot…Pfft! Fine…! Haha…Mgmgh!" I cover my mouth to muffle my laugh. But it's so funny that I my stomach hurts.

"…"

"Are…you made at me, BerBer?"

"Now. Please don't laugh Sis. Vert, please don't take it the wrong way" Nepgear pleaded as she begins the layering of the meatloaf

"That's… the first time… Anyone…" Hrm? Vert is mumbling something.

"Huh?"

"Up until now, everyone has seen me as someone older and called me old lady names like Lady Vert…" no, not everyone is seeing you the older one.

"This is the first time anyone has ever given me such an adorable mispronounced nickname! Hu… uhuuu" is she crying? She's crying isn't she?

"Are those… tears?"

"Yes, Noire. They are…" I answer her question.

"She's crying! Vert's seriously crying!" Neptune is surprised at this development.

"Oh, no! Don't cry, Bert! Don't cry!" Peashy runs up to her and pets her back to calm our crying older one.

"Oooh, I absolutely love you, Peashy!" instead, Vert embraces Peashy like princess reuniting with her prince charming.

"Gyaaah! Th-that hurts…! Don't squeeze me!" okay, scratch that. It's like a wrestler getting ready to give her a German suplex.

"I can take her back to Leanbox with me, right? I'm allowed to do that, right?" um…

"Heck no! She just came back to us!" Neptune rebutted.

"That's right… Peashy is our baby, you see…"

"Please, do not utter such cruelties. Oh I know! I will trade Nepgear back for Peashy" joke gone too far.

*CHOP!*

"Ow!" Vert holds her head to where I chopped.

"She's not a trading card game you know…"

"She was my kid sister to begin with!" Neptune adds.

"Vert… That was far more cruel than anything we said…" Nepgear is extremely hurt. And is now crouching on the floor on the corner of the room, silently enduring.

"There, there…" I pet Nepgear's head.

"Big Brother… *Sniff!*"

"BerBer! Lemme go!" Vert continues to embrace Peashy tightly.

"Ahhh, call me Berber again with that lovely voice…!" she seems to be in ecstasy. I think we should stop now.

"We're back… what's happening? (⊙…⊙ )" Histy asked as she settles on the counter comfortably.

"Vert and Peashy are so lovey-dovey now!" Compa exclaimed.

"Really? I thought she was going to give her a German suplex…" Iffy thought the same thing I did.

"Uuu…*sob!*"

"What's with Ge-Ge?" Compa asked.

"Something so sad… Anyway, you two are taking a break from work?" they both nodded from my question.

"Yeah. Work is always tiring" I know the feeling, Iffy.

"But helping people is so fun!" Compa is as pure hearted as ever.

"I see. Well, lunch will be ready in a minute"

"…Now that I think of it. Why are you two on this side of the room?" Blanc asked noticing that me and Nepgear are just loitering around with them.

"We're waiting for the breads to bake in the oven…" I said.

"…Breads?"

"There's a mac &amp; cheese stuffed in a meatloaf stuffed in the breads…" I also added garlic powder, Italian seasoning, and parmesan cheese on the bread. Giving the inside and outside of the bread a delicious taste that compliments and remain distinct.

"Wooh! Another great lunch!" Neptune is happily excited.

"Mmm! Jarey is always making something new!" Plutie praised.

*TING!*

Hearing that I head back to the kitchen and open the oven. With some mitts on, being careful even if you're experienced is wise, I pull three trays of full of bread that all lined up like little soldiers and place them on the counter. The smell they bring with it is so exquisite that Neptune's open mouth is watering just from looking.

"Woo! It looks so good that I want to eat it! Can we eat it now!?"

"Not yet…"

I take a spoon full of garlic butter, and, as though painting, and apply them lightly on the bread. Since the bread is hot, you'll notice that the butter will melt as you apply.

"Geez, Jared's such a tease!"

"Indeed… I can't stop watering… (^^"

"There, done! Now, di—Whoa!" I didn't even finish and all of them, except for Vert, still hugging Peashy, and Peashy, who is trapped, just jumped right in. I mean, it was Neptune who jumped in, bot everyone.

"Aghm…! Mmm! So good! They're now my new 2nd best snack ever!" Neptune said, still her number 1 is pudding.

"Mhm! The breads tasty from the cheese and garlic but the inside is all meaty and cheesy!" Plutie said.

"Quite a dish… (=^･ω･^=)"

"...I like how it's very warm too…" Blanc said.

"Hmmm! I could eat this and not get enough of it!" Noire said.

"…Hmm…"

"What's wrong Iffy?" Compa caught Iffy thinking.

"Ah. Nothing. This is good, huh? Fills up the stomach real fast…"

"Mhm! Jar-Jar is still our top chef! Oh, Jar-Jar, can I take some later?"

"Sure. Giving it out to patients?"

"And to some friends, I'm sure they'll like it!"

"It's so juicy! This is the-Afgm! Ves! Gunch! Efer!" Neptune said with a mouthful. She says that all the time, though.

"Hey, don't just praise me. Praise Nepgear as well. She's the one that made the burger"

"*Sob!*…Eh?"

"This food is good little sis! We could make a restaurant of this!" Neptune redirects her praises to her.

"Mhm! Let's make one!" Plutie supports.

"Eh? Ah? Eh?" Nepgear seems to be confused a bit. I just gave snicker.

Taking a bread for myself, I take huge bite out of it. It's crunchy from the bread, and it's meaty on the inside. The burger just melts leaving the cheese inside to take over. While doing so, the chees on the bread started to take effect and two kinds of cheese melts neatly.

"…It certainly is tasty…" maybe next time, let's add some bacon.


	136. Chapter 136

Chapter 136:

"Thanks… okay, we've got a job…"

After our lunch, Iffy and Compa left for work. And since it's that time already, I give the Guild a call and ask for any quest that we could do right about now.

"Okay, wanna go out with us, P-ko?"

"Where we goin'!? Somewhere to play!?"

"We're not going to play… We're going to work…" Plutie answered something ridiculous. Even though it's the truth and I pretty much appreciate the effort of them getting to work, it's still a ridiculous thought to anyone who knows their usual habitat.

"Work? Neptuna and Ploot, work? Ahahahaha, you're lying, you're lying!" see? Even our little one agrees with me.

"Hey, we're not lying, we're telling the truth!?" Neptune said.

"Not even young children can see either of you as hard-working adults" Nepgear comments as she drinks the last of her juice.

"Children are brutally honest. (-.-)" children are always honest.

"By the way, can you even transform anymore?" Noire asked Peashy.

"Transform? You mean get bigger!?"

"…Mhm. If not, you'll just be in our way. In that case, we'll leave you here" Blanc bluntly said.

"Eeeeh? I don't wanna get left behind! Uhhh… ummm… Eeeeeei!" forcing herself a bit, her body glows and the outline of her figure change from a child to a full size woman. The glow on her figure disappears, filling in the details.

" 'Yay! I did it! I did it!' "

"Whooooa… Peashy, good job, good job…!" Plutie pats Peashy's shoulders.

"Somehow, they look so… happy… You know, bouncing like that" Neptune said. Indeed, they're motions resemble that of a gelatin.

"Haaa… Having them sway to and fro in front of my face like this… Am I being insulted!?" Vert is still on about that?

"…Yours got to bounce all over the place for majority of this story, if you ask me"

"This is good, isn't it? Now Peashy can come with us" Nepgear reminds us of the good news.

"Mhm. Well, she's still dumb as a rock and a little kid, so that kinda concerns me…" Neptune confesses.

"It's going to be alright! If she sticks by you, she won't feel left out at all" Plutie said. Haha!

"Oh, that makes sense. Wait… Was there some hidden meaning in there I missed?" and she doesn't get it!

"Pfft!" damn… good thing she didn't notice or I'll be barraged by her hits.

" 'C'mon, hurry up! Let's go, or I'll leave you behind!' "

* * *

"…So what's the job this time?" having arrived in the outskirts of Planeptune Blanc asked.

"Let's see…" I take out my phone. I wrote it down on the phone earlier without processing what the Guild on the other end of the call said. I was running on auto-pilot, you see.

"This is a good change of pace… It seems that a truck that was transporting goods to a shop in Planeptune got struck by mishaps along the way. They either want us to repair the truck or deliver the goods to the store directly. Either way, they just want the goods…" I explain after reading through the text.

"Ooh, so it's a simple-dimple job, eh?" Neptune said.

"Yay! We got an easy one this time!" Plutie cheered.

"So a delivery quest, eh? It is a change of pace…" Vert agrees with me.

"I'm glad it's just a peaceful quest…" Nepgear sighed in relief.

" 'Eeh? So we're not going to beat up monsters?' " Peashy asked in disappointment.

"Sorry kid, but your debut will have to wait…"

" 'Uuuhh…' " she cancels her transform mode and literally reverts back to a child.

"...So which direction should we go?" Blanc asked.

"If we follow the general direction to Lastation we can probably get to the truck. The Guild said it was nearby…" it's kinda weird that the Guild put up a quest for this rather than some help. Most probably the client persuaded them.

"Okay, let's get to that trucker and get all the goodies!" Neptune leads on.

* * *

"NEEEEPPPPPUUUU!"

"WAAAAAAAH!"

"I TOLD YOU NOT TO DISTURB THEM!"

"IT WASN'T MY FAULT, NOIRE JUST SHOUTED FOR NO REASON!"

"DON'T PUT THE BLAME ON ME!"

"HEY, YOU 2! YOUR LEGS SHOULD BE MOVING NOT YOUR MOUTH! OR WE'LL LEAVE YOU FOR DOG FODDER!"

"WAAAAAH! THEY'RE GETTING CLOSER!"

"Don't worry Peashy, I'll protect you from the big bad wolves"

"Weeeh! This is so fun!"

*Woof!* *Woof!* *Wooof!*

You're probably asking, what kind of monster we are running from today? To give you some idea, it's the fathers of man's best friend. Yes, a Speothos venaticus. There's a reason though. I noticed that we are going to pass through a pack of bush dogs sleeping quietly and having the best of dreams. We decided to take the long way and circle around them. And then someone screamed in the most unholy of matter.

And you know the rest…

"WAAAAH! WHY'RE THEY RUNNING BACKWARDS?! HAHA!" Neptune asked.

"DOES IT MATTER!?" Noire retorts.

"BECAUSE THEY RUN QUICKER THAT WAY!" but they only run backwards when running away though… Hrm… this is a different dimension so the rules probably change a little.

"AGAIN, DOES IT MATTER!?"

"EEEEEEEK!? THEY'RE GETTING CLOSER!"

Looking back, I can see their tails getting closer and closer to Nepgear as if about to flip her skirt up. I do want to help her, but since we're running in a forest it's not really that feasible for me. I might trip or something and fall headfirst on some dog shit. That'd be a terrible scenario.

"NEPU!? I'LL BE BOARDING THE JARED EXPRESS NOW!" Neptune jumps.

"DAMMIT! DON'T JUST JUMP OUT OF NOWHERE!" despite me complaining, it didn't take much effort to catch her on my arms.

"Geez, it's our normal running away sequence… can't we have something better for the readers to be entertained…" she complains in my arms.

"DOES IT MATTER!?"

I speed up the pace. Behind us, the pack of bush dog are all running backwards, are inching closer to us. And they're not even looking at us. Wait… that means that they're not chasing us. Rather they're running away from something while keeping that something locked within they're sights.

"Jared?"

"Hrm… yeah?" I feel my ear being tugged.

"There's a cliff…" she points straight ahead. True enough there's a cliff 10meters ahead and is coming closer fast…!

"Crap! Everyone! Stop! STOP! STOP!" I put down my foot down and lean my body back, stopping myself right at the edge. I take a peek, and it looks like a long way down… A very long way.

"Waaaaah!" Plutie tries to stop herself, but the first law of motion dictates that it takes a bit of effort to stop yourself from moving.

"…!" Plutie bumps into me, with her momentum still pulling her along. I plant my feet on the ground, for obvious reasons like don't want to be pushed off a cliff, and stop her from going any further than what I can manage.

"Kyaaaaah!"

"Aaaaaaaaaaah!"

"Whoa! Whoa!" two more, Noire and Blanc bumps into me as they both try to stop running. Half of my foot is on the edge already!

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKK!" oh, come on!

"Dammit!" my balance is shifting! I'm literally leaning backwards now.

"Nepu, I can see Lastation from here!" Neptune is undisturbed.

"Good…! I'll be able to get to a hospital in case of broken bones!" I push the three to a complete stop and finally got a breather.

"Whew… thank gawd…" I heave sigh of relief. One more push and I'll really go to the hospital at this rate. Not like I'll die anyway...

"WAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

"WEEEEEEEEE!"

"Oh, fuck…" I forgot about Vert and the crazy child sitting on her shoulders. Where's my health insurance when I need it?


	137. Chapter 137

Chapter 137:

"...That was not the definition of a change of pace…" and I thought it was going to be a calm walk to our objective. Damn me for over expecting too much to be something peaceful for once.

"Hey, at least we all got down safely and my pudding is still intact!" Neptune pulls out a pudding from nowhere.

"…And my ribs isn't intact unfortunately…" damn they hurt a bit…

Having fallen from a good amount of height, with me as the cushion for these girls, we still march on. Despite me having 2 ribs cracked and the rest are in pieces, it's a wonder how anyone still hasn't noticed that. I mean, having 5 women and a half land on top of me all at once, is not the most appealing thing in the world.

"Are you sure you're fine Big Brother?" Nepgear asked in concern.

"Unfortunately, I'm not fine at all" who's going to be fine with having just 2 ribs cracked and the rest are broken?

We've been walking for quite a while now, talking from topic to topic. We're still following a trade route to Lastation that most probably trucks would use. It's a good thing that there are no monsters here. Most probably because that this is a common trading route and they were forced to migrate in the process.

"…Is that it?" Blanc points with her eyes upfront.

In the distance there's a struck that is in the middle of the road. It's a small pickup truck not a small container truck that can carry tons. From this distance, I can see the mishap that just occurred. It seems that the pickup had its right rear wheels sunk in mud. From how deep it is, it's going to be a pain to remove unless you have a tractor to help.

As we walk I noticed that a much older man, probably in his 50's stand with his back turned from us and his hands on his hips. There are tools laid out around him. He shook his head left to right, I believe he sighed and scratched his head.

"Anything alright, sir?" I ask first as we got close.

"Oh? You must be what the manager sent…" he turned to us.

"We are. Looks like that mud pit is giving you trouble…"

"Yeah… And I need to get the goods today or I'll lose my pay today…"

"Hey, hey. What if we can push it, while the mister drives?" Plutie suggests.

"That's a great Nepping idea Plutie!" Neptune agrees.

"We can't…" he said disappointingly.

"The timing belt just broke and well it doesn't look good" since I'm the only guy in our group that knows, not boasting or anything of the sort, the rest raised question marks above their heads.

"Damn, so it's a full-on engine replacement. That'd cost a big one…"

"I know…" let this be a lesson to all car-owners. Please replace your timing belt after running 60,000 miles. And also replace you're the tensioner, water-pump, idler pulleys along with the freakin' belt…

"I'd rather not look at it, so I put the covers and everything else back. *Sigh*… I'll lose more than a month's pay for this…"

"Have you called the tow?"

"Yeah… but because I'm out of the area. It needs the Guild's clearance before getting here"

"I see… it's going to take a while…"

"Can't cry now. Anyway, there are boxes at the back full of fruits. 7 of you is exactly what we need" the driver said, trying to lift up his spirit.

"What about you? Stay here and wait for the tow?"

"Yup. Who knows what those guys would do to this truck of mine if I leave…"

"I see… Well, we'll start now…" I walk pass him and proceeded to the side of the pickup.

Looking at the mud, the tire seems to the have dug itself in. He must have tried to wheel his way out of it before the belt broke. From here, I can see that there are 6 six boxes, all with labels to indicate which is which, to carry back to Planeptune. I first give the truck a push down with the edge of bed, the open space behind the pickup, making sure that the hole isn't deeper than what it appears to be. I climbed onboard, being careful of my shift in weight.

I crouch down on one of the boxes, which smells of apples and give it a test carry. It seems it's not heavy.

"Hey, who wants to carry a box of apples?" I ask. The girls walks towards to where I am, while Nepgear is keeping the driver in small talk.

"How heavy is it?" Noire asked.

"Not that heavy, in my case anyway…" I answered.

"I'll take it. But I'll give it back if it's heavy…" she adds as I carry it over the sides of the bed.

"I don't accept refunds without receipt…" she reaches out and takes the box from me, she seems fine carrying it. She puts it on the ground conserving energy.

"Hrm… hey, Blanc wanna carry some lemons? Or persimmons?" I ask.

"…Hrm, whichever is lighter…"

"The lemons then..." I pick up the box of lemons and handed it over to her. She puts it down on the ground before her, after stepping back a few and gave me a thumbs up.

"Here's yours Vert" I gave her the persimmons.

"What ya going to give me?" Neptune asked curiously. I look over to the remaining boxes.

"There's melons, mangos, and… oranges" I said.

"I'll take the melons!" Neptune raised her hand.

"And I'll take manggos!" Plutie also raised hers.

With that done, I gave them the remaining boxes to fully unload the bed of the pickup. I hop out, do some light warmup and carried the box of oranges. Treating it as the signal, the others carry their assigned boxes and we started walking.

"Eeh? I don't get to carry anything?" Peashy asks.

"Nope"

"It certainly would be strenuous of a child to carry such weight" Vert adds.

"Hey Nepgear, we're going back!" I shouted at Nepgear.

"Ah, are you going to be okay mister?" Nepgear asked the driver.

"Yeah. Just deliver that box to the owner, I can manage her somehow…"

"Okay. Hey, Big Brother wait for me!"

* * *

"Finally~~!"

"Neeepppuuu~~ My arms are like jelly~~!"

"…My arms are getting numb…"

It's funny how these women are able to fight monsters and swing dangerous things towards living things. Now, just from carrying a box full of fruits, they're all tired. Mind you we do 1 minute breaks every 20 steps. Now, it's already sunset where the sky and the city is now painted in orange and gold…

"Oh, you must be the people that accepted our quest…" a large woman said as she comes out from the door of a café. From the formal way she's dressed she must be the manager.

"Yes, ma'am"

"What about Chad? The driver?"

"Seems the pickup truck broke down, he said he'll stay for the tow to arrive…"

"Butt at least you got most of our goods that we need today" she said, putting a smile.

"… _haa… haa…_ So is the quest cleared?" Noire asked.

"Yes. We just needed these for to get us by this week. Seeing as you are all tired, I'll whip up some tea for you…" she steps aside gesturing us to come in her café.

"Yay! Free food!" Neptune runs in.

"Yay!"

"Foood!" and the two, you know which two, follow after her.

"…They're only energetic about free food…" Blanc said.

"It is their charm…" Vert adds.

"Um, what about the boxes?" Nepgear asked.

"Don't ya worry! I'll have the staff get them. Now come on in, and order everything you want! It's on the house after all!" she beams. We all headed inside.

I headed to an empty table, fit for all of us, while the rest of the girls are all picking their food and drinks from the counter. The table was beside by the large window. I lean back on my chair relaxing my body from the labor today. This cause me to heave a sigh…

"Coffee sir?" a waitress approached with coffee on hand.

"Is it white?" I ask.

"Yes sir"

"I'll have it thank you very much…" she neatly places the coffee on the table and left after a bow. I take the cup and bring it my mouth.

"*SIIIIP!*…" that hits the spot. A good warm coffee does make a person's mood of the day.

"Nothing happened today…"

Another peaceful day, another uneventful day. I greatly appreciate such days. They were a far cry to what just happened a few days ago at that base. And the same could be said in vice versa. But maybe I was expecting too much for anything today. When someone has gone through way too much, they can't help but be cautious over the simplest of things. I look out of the window.

"…Hrm…"

Random passersby pass through the streets. Each heading to their own goals. The world still spins even when it's these kinds of days. Everyone has their own wars to fight. Mine had just ended but others are only just starting. And the rule to every war, is to survive. If you do not survive, you do not win.

The passersby moves like ants…!

"Huh…"

There, in between of the crowd, across the street, was a long lilac hair, similar to Neptune's. From where I am, I was able to make out her features as she walks.

I trail with my eyes the hair from the tip of the sculp. She has two black hair clips like that of a D-pad. Bangs that is reaches down to her collarbone. She wears a mostly black one-piece parka dress that has a purple hood, strings that look like controller plugs, and two huge black and purple pockets with blue circles on them. She wears shoes but no thigh-high socks. Instead, on her left thigh is a holster.

"Neptune…?"

"Hrm? What is it?" I turn to look at Neptune, sitting beside me, looking at me curiously. I look back and she was gone out of my sight. Dyed with the crowd.

"Nothing… don't worry" I pet her head.


	138. Chapter 138

Chapter 138:

The Greek word for inspiration means to breathe in, or to take in. Therefore inspiration 'comes through you but not from you, and though they are with you yet they belong not to you'. And excerpt from Kahlil Gibran of the 'Children'. The beauty of the inspired is that they always talk about it with such humility. That the product they created, the art, the music, the food they created, was made by something else entirely, and for something else entirely. That the inspired are a medium, a tool, and bridge to connect wondrous space of the inner universe to the outer universe that that universe is walking on.

"Hey Iffy, is it ready yet?" Neptune asks from the dining table through the living/kitchen area to Iffy, who's cooking enthusiastically on the side of the counter that separates the two areas.

"I'm really, really hungry…" Plutie complains.

"IF! Hurry! Hurry!" Peashy shouts.

"I just said wait. Just… little bit more seasoning…" she said, seasoning something. From our point of view, we have no idea what's she's making.

"It's kinda exciting to see her fumble her way to make a good dish… I wonder what inspired her" the answer is exciting to know.

"But it's surprising that Iffy suddenly wanting to cook lunch" Nepgear said.

"It isn't sudden. I've been teaching her how to cook for quite a while now" Compa said excitedly.

"Really? I had no idea…" Plutie is surprised.

"The student is now the teacher, huh? I feel like crying with joy…" it's a beautiful poetry.

"Wow. I can't believe someone like Iffy would be interested in cooking" Neptune comments.

"It feels like you're words are directing back at you" I said, she looks at me with a question mark above her head.

"You know, you cooking just so you could prove to our dear readers that our relationship won't be static or something like that…" I remember the first time that I saw her cook for me.

"Ooh, well, I kinda wanted you… HOLD THE PHONE!?" she suddenly shouted. Grand revelation befalls on her pudding filled brain again. I hope it's not too ridiculous…

"Has she found someone she wants to cook for!? Like… a man!?" I expected much…

"…" wait…

"WHAAAAAAAT!?" seems the rest of us are in sync.

"Huh? A man?" Peashy doesn't understand because she's still a kid.

"Eeeh? S-sure IF is attractive. I wouldn't be surprised if she has a boyfriend or two…" no, you're pretty surprised now, Nepgear.

"Wait, wait, wait. If Iffy has a boyfriend right now, then does that mean the she…!" no, no, no, no!

"What the hell am I even thinking!?" even the cool me, is starting to lose it! Who's the lucky bastard that hit on our well-raised Iffy!? Dammit who?! I'll kill the fucktard!

"Is Iffy gonna get married…? I don't like that idea…!" Me too Plutie! Before that happens, I have to beat some sense into the guy.

"That's not it (*^_^*). The ones IF wishes to cook for are all of you!" suddenly, Histy spoke within our chaos of confusion.

"Us…?"

"What does that mean?" Neptune asked. Compa giggled.

"Ehehe. Iffy made me promise to keep it a secret, but…" she breathes in a little.

"You have all been through some hard times, so IF wanted to do something to cheer you up" and confesses.

"And that is cooking…?"

"Yes! Yes! She's tried so hard that most of her fingers have band aids on them now!"

"Whew… For second there, I thought it was something else. No blood will be spilled today, I guess…" I let out a breath of relief.

"Why do you sound so relived and disappointed at the same time? (emoticon please!)" Histy scratches her head.

"Iffy… you're such a good girl! Waaaah!" my wife-to-be cries in joy.

"Maybe we're good parents after all…?" Plutie also cries with her.

"I wonder about that…" Nepgear and I are in sync.

"Ugggh, I'm hungry! I'm hungry!"

"Okay, okay, it's ready. Sorry for the wait" finally done with her cooking, she started plating and placing them on the tray. She's also getting something from the fridge. It's probably a dish that can be cooled.

"Yay! I'm excited to try it…!"

"Food, food!"

"Um, nobody else has ever eaten my food, so I'm not sure how good it'll taste, but…" Iffy disclaims as she carry's the tray with both hands towards us.

"My stomach has no room for your doubt! Since you made it for us, we'll eat it even if it sucks!" Neptune counters her statement.

"I-It won't suck! Probably…" and she's doubting herself. Well, first timers always have get that feeling.

"I know the feeling…" nostalgia blooms inside me.

"It'll be just fine, Iffy. If you followed my recipe, it'll be delicious" Compa said. My heart weeps in joy seeing a student becoming the teacher!

Iffy comes to us nervously, and places her two dishes for each before us on the table. On one plate, are some bread all sliced and slightly heated in the oven. The bowl that is in the middle of those contains some white stuff and green paste or something. It's probably an add-on for the bread. There's a bit that's on the lip of the bowl, with quick fingers I scoop it up with my index finger and give it a taste…

"It looks good! Oh, is this an eggplant dish?" Nepgear asked as she noticed.

"Hee? It has… eggplants…?" right, I forgot about my fiancee's complexity with the fruit. And it's a fruit not a freaking vegetable people.

"More specifically, this one on the bowl is called eggplant caviar. Not an ordinary eggplant caviar too. The white stuff here is sour cream which heightens the flavor. Judging from how cool it is, you've made it yesterday or the day before, right?" I ask Iffy.

"As expected of Jared. Eggplants aren't really sold around here, so I picked some up when I was on a far away mission" I wonder who made the decision to hold off eggplants being sold here.

"Oho…" I'm genuinely impressed.

"It's true that this will be the first time I've had any since coming here. I'm happy, but…" Nepgear and I look at the one person we're concerned about.

"…" Neptune is slowly backing away. Or maybe she's shrinking.

"What is this one over here? It looks similar to a tomato salad. (・_・?)"

The second dish that is laid beside the first seems to be to be salad of sorts. Looking at it closely, it's a simple eggplant salad, consisting of Fresh Basil, Parmesan cheese and some diced potatoes. And the type of pasta she uses is Fusilli. Adding the visual impact of the dish. Wait… from the smell is this…

"Oh, yeah, kind of. I sliced up eggplants and laid them on a bed of pasta. They apparently go well together"

"Wow, Iffy! You made stuff I taught you, but you also made up new dishes of your own!" Compa is praising her protégé.

"I-It wasn't my own idea. I followed a book's recipe"

"Eggplants on my left, eggplants on my right…" Neptune's about to explode beside me.

"Neptune, a little won't kill you now and Iffy made it for us…" I try to encourage her. But her hate for eggplants are deeper than the Marianna's trench.

"S-sis, Big Brother's right, IF put her heart into these dishes… So… come on…" Nepgear, being the worried sister as she is, encourages with me.

"Can I eat? Can I!?" from across our table, Peashy can't wait.

"Hey, hey, let's hurry up and eat…!" as well as Plutia.

*CLAP!* *CLAP!*

"Right, right. Okay, everyone, let say it all together now…thanks for the food! (*^_^*)"

"Thanks for the food!" we all, except for one, greeted cheerfully, except for the one's little sister who's said it in a worry.

"…" Neptune tries to tough it out and picks up a bread. She tries to dip it in the sauce but her hand stops halfway.

"*Afgm!* Mmmmmh! It's so good…!" Plutie praised.

"*munch* *munch* *munch* *cough* *choke* *gag* *swallow*"

"Compa, our problem child is going to die if you don't stop her from eating too fast…" she's trying to swallow everything before her.

"Hyeee, you shouldn't eat so fast!" Compa pats the child's back.

"This is truly delicious. I cannot believe this is your first time cooking. \\(^-゜)v"

"Indeed. The pasta is tasty. The very light texture of the inside of the eggplant, mixed with slightly cooked outside. Plus using sweetness of the tomatoes to bring the distinct flavor of the eggplant in the spotlight. Also one would think that the cheese in there was commodity, if so they're idiots. The parmesan cheese you added, brought to it that pasta feel without separating itself from the dish and one last thing…" I raise with the fork the basil.

"The basil brings the flavors all together!" I feel like crying! Although there are some points here and there to be remedied, but this is a wonderful dish that she made for her first debut.

"Y-You're exaggerating…" Iffy stammered.

"Big Brother never usually exaggerates, though…" thanks for defending me Nepgear.

"Next is the eggplant caviar. What do I say… it's like a dance of green and white. The flavor of the sour cream masks most of the eggplant taste that most doesn't like about. But from what I can taste, you added rosemary and thyme in the oven process for the nutrients and flavor of the leaves to wet out. Then you mixed them all in, and cook again to remove the water. This helps the eggplant to taste better. Finally you added coriander and sour cream to finish"

"Ahaha… I feel really embarrassed when you say it so thoroughly like that… Huh? Nep, aren't you hungry?" damn, she noticed her.

"…" Neptune looks at her and looks away in shame.

"Um, actually, Sis is…"

"Sorry, Iffy. I'm real stoked about what you've done here, but I can't eat this" Neptune apologizes as she pushes the plates away from her.

"Huh? Why?" Iffy is in shock but she's trying to hold it together.

"Because! Because… Eggplants are not fit for human consumption!"

*CHOP!*

"Owwieee…"

"Oh, sorry. My hand reacted before my mind could think…" I say my excuse.

"…Huh?" even Iffy is dumbfounded from the answer.

"Huh…? EEEEEEEEEEEH!? Really…!?" Plutie screams in shock.

"I shouldn't eat this? But I already eated a lot…" Peashy said in bad grammar.

"That isn't true. Eggplants are proper food" Compa testifies.

"Plus it's 'ate', Peashy. Not 'eaten'…" I correct her. Oh, she nods. She's oddly attentive.

"Um, so in other words… Neptune, you… (゜ △゜)"

"Right. She hates eggplants" weirdly, Nepgear and I are in sync. Must be from weather.

"I'm sorry, really. I'll just eat some leftovers, so all of you just keep having fun over here" Neptune resigned herself by backing her chair a bit.

"Look you, just one bite of won't kill you… I do know that the taste is a little getting used to, but it's not that hard to just swallow it" I plea to her.

"T-That's right! At least… At least try one bite…!"

"Not happening, even if my Jared asks! If you eat eggplants, your eyes turn completely purple!" you're eyes are already purple as it is already.

"Hweeeh? Purple… eyes…"

"No, that isn't true either" Compa shoots down that statement as well.

"Don't lie! Nep, are you going to sit here and continue to insult eggplants!?"

"Please, after this, say you're sorry to all eggplant lovers around the world. I'd rather not deal with them right now…" it'd look ridiculous to have eggplants thrown at us every time we go out.

"It's not an insult! I'm afraid! If Mr. Higgins bumped into one, he'd die right on the spot!"

"That's just some video game! I hear the guy Mr. Higgins is based on eats eggplants for real!" Iffy counter argues.

"Um, I can ignore them and eat more food, right…?"Plutie asks.

"Yes, I believe their foolish exchange will continue for quite some time. (-_-;"

"Also, if you don't hurry. Peashy might take your share as well…*Amgh* *mmgh* *gulp!*" I eat my share fearing that the child might steal my lunch. Don't worry, I also fear the development that's happening right beside me.

"Oh, and! Eggplants are evil! They attack you along with the wicked foreman, Spike…!"

"That kind of eggplant only spawns in buildings that are about to be demolished!"

"Y-You don't need to go this far to make me eat it! Jared, you hate eggplants too, right!?" look you…

"I honestly like them…" I answered with my all my sincerity as a passerby. Maybe by me liking them, she might tell herself to try one as well.

"Guaaaah! Jared's been to the dark side!? T-Then Nep Jr., you hate eggplants, right?" well, that plan failed. She turns to her sister.

"Huh? Well…"

"You're on my side, right? You wouldn't betray your cool sister, would you…?"

"Ugh. Ughhhh…." Hello, Nepgear? This isn't the time for your biased self to take over now.

"…Mhm, purple food is a bit…"

"Stop, stop. Stop right there!" I cut off her sentence. But it's too late, what little words that she said added fuel to the fire.

"You're siding with her!? Compa back me up here" Iffy calls reinforcements. I'm really trying hard to be the straight guy here.

"It's bad for your health to be a really picky eater" nice one Compa. A motherly line like that needs to be put out every now and then.

"*mogu* *mogu* *mogu* *mogu* Mmmm… Isn't it good, Peashy?"

"Mhm! I'm loving it!"

"Hey, don't eat Nep's share as well!" Iffy caught Peashy reaching for the untouched plate.

"I don't want any! Ugh, Iffy, I'm starting to realize that you're an eggplant, too" the hell?

"The ribbon is the stem, and those kinda-purple-ish clothes… Hwaaa, stay back, eggplant!" Neptune kicks the floor pushing herself away while on the chair.

"D-Don't call me an eggplant! Fine, whatever! I made that just for you, Nep. But… screw this!" she stomps away…

"Oh…"

"Iffy, please wait!" Compa stands from her seat and follows after her. They both retreat into their room.

"You've really done it now…" Nepgear said.

"Ugh… But it's not my fault!" it is, woman.

"One cannot help being picky, but the timing for this was quite poor. (-;)"

"But it wouldn't make your eyes go purple if you only just ate a bite. That was all she was asking after all…"

"Ugh…" now Neptune seems torn apart.

"That was yummy! I'm done!" Peashy says thumping on her stomach.

"Thank you for the meal… huh? Where did Iffy and Compa go?"

"Somewhere. In any case…" I turn back to Neptune.

"Once everything cooled down, be sure to apologize, okay?" I pet her head. She just gave me nod in return.

"…Mhm, I should…"


	139. Chapter 139

Chapter 139:

"Foo…" decaf coffee is good.

A few hours after what happened, and I'm just waiting for the spirit of slumber to possess me so I can sleep. I just drank the last of my decaf. The rest have fallen asleep in their respective rooms. The only light that is on right now, is the living area where I sit on the floor just staring.

"…" okay, I lied. I can't just sleep since I have a certain troubled woman beside me on this well carpeted floor. My futon is already laid out…

"Ugh… I said something mean to Iffy…" see? Even she has her quirks as well. Can't say I don't find that adorable.

"…I see…" since she won't move from her spot. I sat behind her and pin her between my legs. She leans back, the smell of her shampoo stimulates my nose.

"...I should say sorry to her tomorrow…" she said.

"Yeah. I'll be there when you say it…" I said, separating her hands and holding both them.

"Mhm… Sorry…" she clasps her hands to mine.

"For what?"

"You know… for earlier, I'm like a spoiled little princess…"

"Ahaha… Indeed you are…" I play with her fingers, and she returns the favor.

"Don't worry about it. Everyone has their own quirks…" my cheek met hers, she cuddles like a cat.

"...The wonders of relationships is that we bump into each other more than we make good memories. Sometimes we fight. More often, bully someone. And often, laugh at the good times"

"Oh..."

"Soon we might grow separated. Because we're still and always strangers looking at life differently. We can't always see each other's hearts. No matter how close we all are…"

"…" she clasps her hand tightly on mine. I rub the back of her hand with my thumb.

"But if you live with those same people under a roof for more than, what, 17 years. You might find it surprising that they know you more than you know yourself…"

"Then…"

"She'll come around, don't worry. But better apologize tomorrow morning so you won't feel guilty anymore…" I added that last part with a bit of emphasis. When it comes to her feeling guilty or even worried, it kinda shows.

"Mhm. Thanks Jared…Mm *kiss!*" with a smack on the lips, she gets off of me and got under the covers. I close the lights and get under the covers myself, squeezing beside her.

"Good night, Jared…"

"Good night. Early morning, got it?" I reminded her.

"Mhm. Early morning…"

* * *

"Morning! Huh? Where's Iffy…?" the next day, Neptune greeted Compa as she exits her room.

"She had to go into work early, she said"

"I see. Mmmrgh… I wanted to apologize, but I guess my timing is pretty bad…"

"She left without eating breakfast though" but I did notice that the shower was recently used. She must have left while I was doing my morning runs.

"There's a cafeteria at the Guild. She said she'll eat there…" I'm willing to bet she's not going home to eat lunch as well.

"I see… Hey c'mon, we're going to apologize once she gets home, okay?" I feel like a dad tending to his daughter.

"…Mhm" she just nods. I pet her head.

* * *

"Hmm… Not home yet…" Neptune stared at the clock. It's already 7, she should've been out 2 hours ago.

"IF sure is late today" Nepgear said.

"She must be working overtime"

"Such crappy timing… I just wanna apologize and shake this depressed feeling…"

"Neptuna, you're not as goofy as usual" Peashy said while Compa is grooming her hair.

"It'll be okay. I'm sure that Iffy is thinking about she was in the wrong, too" true that Compa. She shouldn't have forced it on Neptune. But I do understand the feeling of rejecting you're first dish like it was life or death. If anything though, the one that's real at fault her was the silly(?) argument that they had. That spiraled into Iffy blowing up a fuse.

"Thanks. I hope she gets back soon"

"Neptune! It's terrible! (; °△°) Something terrible has happened!" Hrm? That's weird?

"She usually doesn't say it after coming back from whatever…" it always causes me to lose sleep too.

"Oh. Yeah, maybe it's a glitch or something" Neptune said jokingly.

"This is no time to be relaxed! It is truly awful! (っﾟ⊿ﾟ) っ This was in the mailbox" mini-Histy flings around a letter of sorts.

"Huh? A letter…?" I said that in my monologue Plutie.

"Gimme! Gimme!" Peashy demands.

"Not like you could read it. Let me see here…" I peak from Neptune's shoulder looking reading the letter with her.

"It says, 'Neptune, I have your woman. If you want her back, come to the specified location' Eeeh!? This is…!" I instantly pull out my phone and started dialing.

"Maybe Iffy was…" Compa is now jumping to conclusions.

"Did she get kidnapped again!?" Plutie said.

"We can't say that for sure yet, this could be ruse…! Dammit… out of coverage area!" I redial her phone again.

"This is the third time, y'know. If it were Nepgear, she'd get the 'Kidnap Prone' affinity" Neptune said.

"Th-There's no reason to bring that up right now!"

"And I thought her self defense as well. She's going to turn me into a bad parent if she gets kidnapped all the time.

"Aaaah! What should we do!? (ﾟдﾟ;;)"

"What to do, schmut to do! It says to come alone, so I'm gonna go alone"

"Hold your raging pudding there, woman. The most number one thing for any kidnapping situation is to never let the kidnappers get what they want"

"Then…"

"First, let's play by the books. The letter contains your name on it, therefore it's someone that we know or knows you. But given that you're a goddess, everyone knows you already by now" plus the fact that she's doing more quest recently.

"…Next is the possessive tense. It means, it's both something personal that she knows well or something to lure us"

"So it really is Iffy!" Compa said.

"We could say that. But what if she really is working overtime. And while wle're gone, something else comes up, like for example, gas this place with sleeping gas, and you guys get kidnapped instead" I would do that.

"S-so… what do we do?" Nepgear asks.

"Histy, triple up the guards here and make sure to check the surveillance cameras of everything suspicious in the building" she nods.

"Check the vents as well, if you start feeling sleepy, make a break for it and retreat somewhere. Nepgear and Compa, go take a visit to the guild, ask about Iffy. If she did leave for the day, then we can presume that she's the one that got kidnapped"

"What are we going to do, Jarey?"

"You two… um…" I think. I really don't know what I could make them do.

"Oh, right. You guys protect stay here"

"Eeeh!?"

"Aww, I wanna go play too! I wanna go!"

"Look you two, once the four of us are out and Histy starts summoning her holographic apparitions, no one will be able to defend her or this place while she's alone. If no one protects this place then we no we won't have a place to return to"

"Ooh…!"

"Okay, you two. Make sure that both of you keep this place from being destroyed or at the very least, keep Histy safe. Unless, you suddenly feel sleepy for no apparent reason, just tuck your tails and run, okay?"

"Roger!"

"T-Then what about the both of you?" Nepgear asked.

"Obviously we're going there. If anything happens we'll give a call"

"But it must be a trap! (ﾟдﾟ)" that's the reason why for all those precautions, right? Or maybe she meant it that we might get pinned down or something.

"And depending on how things unfold, Iffy might not be the only one in danger…" Nepgear said.

"True. Well, if it comes down to it. I might think of something out of my sleeve…"

"Mhm. We'll be fine. We won't lose to no bear trap or whatever!"

*CLAP!*

We high fived.

"Well, if anything, let's just do our best and save some kidnapped people. Ready, Neptune?"

"Hooo!"


	140. Chapter 140

Chapter 140:

"You know, even if this is a rescue mission, again. I kinda don't feel the urgency" in fact, I'm getting good vibes that it's going to work out and I'm just over thinking things.

"Maybe it's because Jared's on the case" Neptune said beside me, carefully looking at the map.

"Well true, but look: we're just walking there, I'm not going ahead of you, and I'm on the ground not swinging away like George…"

"George? Hmm… George of the Dungle? Oooh! I know that! The gorilla is super! And the monkey scene with the lion was cute!"

"Oh you know that movie. I like it how he swings into trees and he can swing for miles and miles on end. Makes me laugh until I cry…"

"iMaybe after we rescue Iffy, let's go watch it!

"Sounds like a plan. I know of a good rent shop that I can get for a 3rd of a price"

We're just walking through the forest in the night, guided by the half moon and the stars twinkling about. Wow, late intro there. And surprisingly, I'm not jumping from tree to tree and swinging on some vines. Maybe because good times have passed since Eden was abolished as a country that it kinda dulls me a little. I can't say that it's not a bad thing as well. But given the situation, it's really bad if my sense of urgency doesn't come back.

"Hmm, the specified location is a just a bit further" Neptune said as she looks at a map.

"Hrm… Oh, it's just straight ahead… It's a field" if it were an open space I would have gone to plan B. Asking the locals beforehand about this place was a good choice.

"We'll split from here and circle around…"

"Mhm. While I fight baddies, you go rescue the peeps or Iffy or whatever"

"That's the plan. Okay, I'm off…" giving Neptune a pet on the head, I run off.

Running off, not minding if I'm making noise or whatever now, I circle the field as I get closer to the place. My nose twitched at the smell of something, and my ears are tingling as well. I stop in my tracks and hide in some bushes, and got closer to our designated area.

"It's a field of…"

Eggplants. Eggplants. Eggplants. Eggplants.

The farmer in me is beginning to take excitement. I mean, it's a field of nothing but freaking eggplants. If one were to sell of this to Planeptune for a favorable price, that guy would have profited 5 times over. The twitch in my nose is now explained by the smell of field and the smell of the eggplants being cultivated. And the thing that I've been hearing is a river in the side, providing the field with nutrients to grow. The field is lit up by a series of lamps, illuminating the paths in between the fields. The light up everything entirely and romantically against the night sky's lights above the heaven's.

"This could be an ideal dating spot If I do say so myself" I'd want to take Neptune here for a midnight stroll, but the eggplants would just kill. Her disgust runs deep for eggplants.

Looking around for a bit, I see Neptune coming out. The shocked looked on her face, and how she hid herself must have been completely horrifying for her. But maybe, because this is a dire situation, she just closed her eyes and ran for it through the fields. Got to admit, that's courage right there.

"Hrm… Oh my gawd, I should've fucking known…" just give up already, please.

Coming out of the bungalow house is a witch with revealing clothes. Well, we all know who this witch is. And she never gives up, does she? Does no one tell her that there's a fine line between being determined and just being desperate for the sake of fuck. I mean c'mon, the Seven is already gone, and she's still out here plotting something out of us.

Please, somebody, give her the freaking memo already. I kinda feel sorry for her. And my feelings of respect, to her counterpart I mean, but the resemblance is striking and I can't but respect her as well, is really starting to dwindle down the drain.

"I better call…" I take out my phone and started ringing Nepgear.

"_BIG BROTHER…!_"

"…Guh! Don't shout please… My ears are ringing… ugh…"

"_Ah, sorry. But this is terrible!_"

"What? You mimicking Histy now?"

"_IF really did get kidnapped!_"

"Riiight…" why am I not surprised? Can someone tell me.

"_And the one who kidnapped her was…!_"

"Arfoire, right? Yeah…"

"_Eh? Why aren't you all the surprised?_"

"*Sigh*… I feel sorry for her, I tell you…"

"_Why?_" Guess she doesn't get it.

"In any case, I just wanted you to know that everything is going to be fine… and we're going back home at around… midnight I guess"

"_Eh!? But what about IF?_"

"No worries, no worries. Put the extra defenses back to normal, go back home and just do what you guys do. Also no need to watch the vents…"

"_Um, I don't really get it but okay…_"

"Still thanks for the hard work. I'll bring back some eggplants as a reward"

"_Hm? What about eggplants?_"

*BEEP!*

I close my phone.

Since it's going to be few moments before the two could actually confront each other, I jump out from my thicket and enter the fields of eggplants. Damn, no wonder Neptune just freaked out. The smell is so thickening. I carefully, move in towards the bungalow. Chances are, and knowing by how Arfoire works, Iffy is just taking a nap in the bungalow. Plus, she's the only hostage.

"Oh well, makes it easier for me…"

"Haha… I'm glad you seem to be pleased…" I probably got close enough to hear Arfoire's usual. I give a quick, and see Neptune already standing before the witch.

"Huh? That voice… Is it the old lady again?"

"Welcome to my eggplant field" Arfoire said as if this was a theme park of sorts.

"Your eggplant field? What the heck is this? So your other job is like a farmer or whatever?"

"No. I only bought this land so I could defeat you. Be grateful" she would if she could.

"Why would I be grateful!? This is a big pain in the bum!"

"Uggghhh…" I hear Iffy groaning from in there.

"Iffy? What kind of eggplant-based torture did you do to her!?"

"Hmm? I just had her eat as much of her favorite food as possible. She got full and fell asleep" why would you do that!? C'mon, you really don't know the essence of kidnapping.

"So many eggplants… Truly a fate worse than death. No human could do this… Only a demonic demon!" you should say no professional kidnapper would do this to their hostage. Unless their idiots.

"Well, all that aside, I've come alone. So gimme back Iffy!"

"You can't seriously think that I'd return her so easily"

"Uh, well no, obviously not. But still…"

"Since you came all this way, let me welcome you with a feast. I have a special guest for you!"

"Nepu! A special guest? I have a bad feeling about this"

Suddenly, the eggplants started shaking. Like they were about to explode or something. The wriggle around from their stems as if trying to pluck themselves out. One of the eggplants got that and landed on the ground. It still shakes, as if something inside is squirming their way out of the eggplants. Then something bulges and grows. There are 4 of them. They grow and grow. Smaller bulges starts to form from the tips of the bulges as well. It's as if I'm looking how a pimple grows at 4 times the speed. Slowly, the bigger bulge now seems to form the arms and legs. And the smaller ones represents the hands and feet with fingers.

"Oh my gawd…" I can't help but be in shock and awe. Once the arms and feet have formed, it stand up like nothing happened and runs off towards Neptune, probably going surround her and scare her off.

"Nooooooo! The eggplants… They're moving!? I'm being surrounded by an eggplant army!"

"Hahaha… Ahahahahahaha!" maniacal laugh is maniacal.

"How are my magical eggplat marionettes!? Do you like them!?"

"No, I don't, honestly. Please say sorry to all the eggplants around the world for turning them into something like this" I whisper under my breath. It's going to be pretty stupid if your food suddenly ups and runs away from you.

"Of course not, duh! How could you create such denizens of pure evil so easily!?" you too, Neptune. Say sorry to them already.

"I'm surprised, too. To think that my powers and eggplants would be so complimentary…" what? Did they just up and do you last week? That's gross…

"This can only be seen as a divine revelation. The heavens are telling me to defeat you!" no, that's just you entirely. The heavens aren't that sick to use eggplants to defeat a girl who's probably in her preteens.

"Isn't that just some maniacal coincidence!? Ew, the eggplants are inching closer to my belly…" no they aren't woman.

"Go, eggplant army! Dye the cubby Neptune a deep purple hue that will never wash out!"

Her inner dress is colored purple and her eyes are purple as well. Her hair is lilac, which is a derivative of purple. Her country, our Planeptune I mean, is called the Land of Purple Progress. Therefore, she is already purple in a sense. So your statement is wrong Arfoire, you can't dye something with the same color.

"Huaaaaaaaaaa! Noooooooooo!"


	141. Chapter 141

Chapter 141:

"Ehehe… You put up a good fight" Arfoire laughs.

"Ugh, I diced 'em all up somehow, but… More than physical, this is mentally draining for me…"

"Truly a bioweapon…" I whisper and nod to myself in agreement.

She diced about, what? A pool of eggplants already. And giving them a look their all ripe and ready to sell. Plus, most of them, 2 out 10, doesn't have worms in them. Arfoire must have really cultivated these eggplants perfectly. Surprisingly, I can't help but say she has a talent for this kind of stuff. She should consider retiring.

"My tactic is definitely working. You're far from full, my dear. How about a second serving!?"

"HEeeh!? You're… serious!?"

"She is…" I whisper. Look, more of them are running pass me and towards to you.

"Hyaaaaaa! Please noooooo mooooooore!" sorry for this Neptune. But as peace offering, I'll give you a box load of pudding.

And another wave continues…

"Blehhh. They're weak on their own, so I can chop 'em up, but still…"

* * *

"Hrm…"

I really want to describe how it goes. But I rested my eyes for a bit and awoke with the sound of the sword finally stop swinging. Oh look, Neptune has her legs shaking. If something really stupid comes, I'll jump right in.

"Tch. I didn't give myself enough time to tweak their fighting capabilities. But it's really weird…"

"I can't do this. I hate eggplants. They're creepy and icky and gross and terrible and ugly…!" apologize woman! Apologize up until they're 50th generation!

"Tell me, where's your boyfriend?"

"Nepu!? What? You're going to do eggplant stuff on him now! Uuuh… I don't want him coming home wearing an eggplant suite…"

"I might consider…" I whisper to myself.

"…By now he'd be running here. So, where is he?"

"Eeh!? Why would I tell you that!? You're really going to invade him with eggplants!? Noooo! Doooon't!?"

"She is losing her mind, either way. Now all that's left to do is…" Arfoire mumbles and tries to hold off a laugh.

"Hey, enough. If you manage to defeat me, the girl is yours" she makes a declaration.

"Huh? Really? I don't gotta fight no more eggplant things?" Neptune is so relieved that she's practically smiling.

"Okay, anything's cool! I know you're tough, lady, but this is a gajillion times better!"

"Better than fighting eggplants? Hahaha… You'll eat those words. I didn't want to use this, but…"

"Huh?"

From all the scattered sliced pieces of the eggplants, they all suddenly standing on their own as if magnetized by something. Arfoire slowly rises into the air, spreads her arms wide as if expecting to be baptized by the heavens. Then, all of the diced pieces of eggplants suddenly rushes towards her. They stick to every part of her body. Even when her whole body is completely filled with diced eggplants they keep on coming.

Then, all of the eggplants that have not turned into some walking eggplants of doom, have started shaking. All the eggplants in the filled shake violently. Then, while shaking or rather rattling or something, they slowly point towards our floating-questionable-eggplant-connoisseur in question.

They all fly towards her, and circle around her. More and more, the number of eggplants orbiting around her is getting thicker. A giant purple tornado of eggplants, ensues. The air is being drawn in. The tornado of eggplants is picking up speed. The fields all lie flat against its might.

In the eye of this eggplant tornado, is a ball of sorts. No, it's not a ball. It's larger than that. It's freaking giant eggplant.

"Eggplants, eggplants, eggplants… I think I'm starting to hate eggplants as well…" the more I say eggplant the more tiring it gets. Let's change it up to _Solanum melongena_.

The _Solanum melongena _is getting larger in the eye of the tornado. Rough winds comes in waves, after recovering from one, another one is coming right at your face. It feels like you could be carried away, even when your feet is planted firmly on the ground.

*BAM!*

A large air wall suddenly hits my face. Even if I'm a passerby, it's been a while since I said that to myself, I could barely keep myself from getting blown off. I have to close my eyes as well, as I'd prefer them not to be inside my skull peeking at my brain.

Once I opened my eyes, something large hovers over. It's big, big, big, big. I'm being covered by its majestic shadow. The color purple, fills all of my vision. On the sides of this thing are arms and at the bottom are it's legs and feet. Carved on it's main body is a face, and above it is a stem. There's no mistaking it Arfoire just turned into-!

"OUUUUUGH! THE OLD LADY JUST TURN INTO A GIANT EGGPLAAAAAAANT!?" took the words right off my mouth.

"Yes. I'm not like those you've faced so far. I am the eggplant god. I am one with the eggplant!" that sounds fucked up. I mean, who would do that!?

"Uhhhh… Ewwwww… Blehhh…"

" "I will bury you with this form. Hahaha… You're so scared, you cannot even move, can you?" " I can still move, thank you very much.

" "I won't kill you quickly. I'll fill you with so much suffering that you will beg for death" " please don't torture us too hard.

"Aughhh… Uhhh… huh?" Hrm? Neptune's feet stops shaking.

"Actually, you know what? This…" hrm? Wait. Wait. Wait. Are you serious!? Has she…!?

"…might work out okay" …overcome her hate, slash, weakness, slash, disgust for eggplants!? If so, I'm going to thank Arfoire every freakin' day!

" "Wh-What!?" " even Arfoire is surprised.

"No, I mean…" she transforms.

" 'When you're so large, you seem less like an eggplant and more like some big purple psycho…' " Sigh… I expected too much.

" "Wh-what did you say!? Dammit, when you put it like that, I see it, too…" " I'm sorry, but I don't. I still see a giant fucking eggplant with arms and legs.

" 'Your vegetable plan has failed. The way you are now, I can fight you without fear!' " vegetable plan my ass, she just wasted a bunch of ripe eggplants.

" "Y-You bitch…!" " she's not a bitch…

" "However, I won't let you defeat me that easily!" " Oh really? They do say the bigger they are the harder they fall.

" "Besides eggplant powers, this body has been strengthened, too! I will win in a one-on-one duel!" " Hrm… I was about to just reveal myself and enter the fray, but Neptune found me with her eyes. Her head didn't shake nor nod, but even then I understood what she meant. Oh well, I guess I can be the audience in this one.

" 'I wonder about that, you've infuriated me. You tortured Iffy. And more than that, you brought eggplants to a fight. I'll never forgive that!' " I'm having a good time discerning what she _really _can't forgive.

* * *

"…Kuah… Man, it's starting to get really late into the night if I'm sleeping on the job like this…" Not like there's anything I could do though.

"So… what happened… Wow…" it became really dark for some reason. It's night true, but the whole field was lit with lamps that makes everything seeable. So overclocking my brain a bit, I see, from what little light penetrating my eyes, a big giant eggplant has fallen on the field. Looks like Arfoire is unconscious and almost most likely not going to change back.

"Oh hey there, good work out there…" I said to the woman who's about to land in front of me. She has a tired expression on her against the starry night.

" 'What a horrifying opponent. Far worse than anything I've faced thus far' "

"Still, you managed…" I pet her head.

" 'If you'd just helped me…' "

"Hey, hey. You're the one that gave me a look that said that you can handle it, right?" truth be told, I was waiting for her signal for me to jump in, before I fell asleep again.

" 'I suppose that's true… Haa, I'm tired…' " she sighs and leans her body to me. I embrace her, supporting her.

"It is past midnight by now. And we both are…" even if I slept you can't possible sleep calmly not when a goddess is fighting a giant eggplant that's right in front of you.

" '…Where's Iffy?' "

"Right behind me…" I said, she peeks.

While everything else was going on in the foreground, I just snuck in the bungalow and take Iffy away. It's a surprise the Arfoire never really caught on. I mean she was already on the right track of asking my whereabouts, so she should've have, right? Oh well, we have more pressing matters…

"You still good keeping that form, Neptune?"

" 'Mhm… But with how tired I am, I might not carry two people back…' "

"Iffy needs a nurse right now, so I'll catch up…"

" '…I'll be a bit worried about you… But if that's the plan then…' " regaining a bit of her energy she peels off of me and heads over to Iffy. She crouches and carries her on her arms.

" 'I'm sorry, Iffy. This happened all because of me. Let's hurry bac to the Basilicom' " she apologized to the sleeping beauty.

"Oh right her breath smells like…"

"*cough*, *cough*" too late…

" 'Ugh, your breath reeks of eggplants, Iffy!' "

"If you can't, we could just take the scenic route…"

" 'No, given how much she suffered she needs some to tend to her…' "

"Ugh… Nep…" I can see Neptune's face distorts from the smell of Iffy's breath. Even if I wash my mouth every morning like any sane person would, seeing this reminds me of that fact that I should do it every morning.

" 'Ugh, this is no time for me to hesitate. Just… don't breathe into my face, Iffy…' " she takes off a little.

" 'I'm going then…' " she said.

"See ya…" then she flies off.

"Haa… I really need some sleep..." my heads all fuzzy from getting woken up in the middle of sleep.

* * *

"Waaa! Neptuna! Iffy's awake!" Peashy runs out of the room alarming everyone in the living area.

"Really!? Is she okay?" Neptune was the first to ask.

"Mhm. I couldn't find any injuries. She's going to be fine" Compa said coming out of the room as well.

"That's a relief. Everyone was so worried…" Nepgear heaved a sigh of relief.

"Hueee… That's good to hear…" Plutia is about to cry.

"Here Compa some porridge" I offer a bowl of porridge to our nurse. She's been taking care of Iffy since we came back 5 hours ago. By the way, the time is 7 already.

"Oh, thanks Jared…" she takes the bowl off my hands.

"Make sure you hit the sack after you eat all that, alright?"

"Okaaay!"

I take another bowl of porridge from the counter and headed inside. As though waiting for me to take the initiative, everyone followed suit behind me. Iffy is lying up on her bed, she has a slightly vacant eyes as she just had woken up. We all walk to her bedside.

"Everyone…? I… was captured a again, and then…"

"Neptune and Jared came and rescued you. (^^)" mini-Histy said.

"Although most of the grunt work was all on her. So she gets most of the credits…" all I did was just get Iffy out of there.

"Nep did that for me? I see… Thank you, Nep"

"Uh-huh. I mean, I'm partially at fault here, so…" Neptune takes a deep breath.

"I'm really sorry I didn't eat the food you cooked!" Neptune apologizes from the bottom of her heart.

"My… food?" she still seems to be out of it if she doesn't remember they're quarrel.

"The food from the other night. The eggplant-stravaganza, as it were" Nepgear clarified.

"Eggplants… Eggplants!?" she suddenly sits up.

"Hwaaaaa! That was unexpected…!" Plutie is as herself as ever.

"What's wrong with you?" Peashy asked.

"No, no more eggplants! Scary! I hate them! I don't want to eat one ever again! Nooooo!" Iffy is throwing a fit.

"Iffy!? Hey, snap out of it!" Neptune holds her shoulders.

"Nep… I owe you a huge apology for trying to make you eat eggplants" haa? Oh wait… don't tell me…

"That was inhumane of me! I'm really, truly sorry!" she hugs Neptune tightly.

"Waa! Don't put your face to close to mine… You still got eggplant breath…"

"Iffy, what happened out there…?" Compa asked, she has her bowl with her.

"Do you dislike eggplants now?" Nepgear asked.

"Of course I do! That nasty purple crap… isn't fit for human consumption!"

"Iffy, I knew you would come to see the world as I do" what the heck is with the sparkles in her eyes.

"Of course, Nep!" they both hugged.

"They're friends again… That's soooo nice…" Plutie seems content with this.

"No, I think something about this does not quite add up. (^^;)" Histy comments.

"Eggplants are tasty, right?" Peashy asked. She must be having a crisis about her sense of taste.

"Yes, they are quite delicious. Being picky isn't good for you, you two!" Compa answered.

"Whatever! You can live a perfectly satisfying life without eating those things!" Neptune protested.

"Right! I won't eat another eggplant for as long as I live!"

"Tell me Histy, am I good parent?" I suddenly ask in a whisper.

"Hrm? Of course you are （＾o＾）"

"Right…" but looking at Iffy right now… ugh…

"*Sigh*…" first it was when she was 7, next is when she was 18. Plus she's been kidnapped 3 times already. I feel like a failure as a parent.

"*Sigh*… Better not brood over spilled milk…" what's done is done. The only thing I have to do now, is to fix her complexities before we leave eventually.

"Here, Iffy some porridge to fill you up" I offer her some steamy porridge.

"There isn't any eggplants right?" she asked.

"There's isn't…"

"Mhm! Thanks Jared!" she started annihilating the porridge.


	142. Chapter 142

Chapter 142:

If we say, for example, you've seen another you just strutting around in the middle of the street drinking milkshake, what would you do? For sanity's sake, you would probably avoid eye contact or just ignore it as a trick in the eyes. Let us say for example you haven't walked away. Rather watched as this human, this doppelganger, who has the same face and build as you, go about his way of life compared to yours.

In everything a human do, people would always project themselves. They're different from dreamers and different from optimists. Unconsciously, we always see our "perfect" selves. Side by side, we watch our "perfect" self, transcends through our measly life. With little to no effort, and with efficiency, stress free as he performs 'your' activities with utter ease, or rather, with utter "perfection".

So we strive, following it's footsteps as our "perfect" self go about his activities. Mimicking his actions hoping to even hold a candle against him. To know that with hard work and effort, with a little bit of grace, we could somehow achieve what he achieved. Hoping to even surpass our "perfect" self.

But sometimes we can't help but think that such a thing is impossible in the current "you". We always tumble and fall, watching our "perfect" self leave us indifferently. To stay sheltered from the impeding storm called life. Secured by the simplest of things, not needing to "better" ourselves anymore. And if our "perfect" self were to watch us right now:

He too, would have ignored us as well.

"Hey everyone, gimme your undivided attention! I got stuff to say" Neptune starts off.

"Huh? What?" Peashy asked.

"Did something happen?" Plutie asked.

Today we're having another meeting. Of course the one who organized this was none other than my wife-to-be. For a change of pace, we're not holding the meeting in the top most floor of the Basilicom. Rather, we're just relaxing in the Basilicom's lobby. Where there are huge windows that expands around the main hall of the Basilicom peeking the purplish silver, retro futuristic design of the Planeptune city. We're sitting on one of the couches facing each other, separated by a glass table with a cactus plant on top of it.

Most of the folks who knows our activities by now just give us a quick glance and walk off to their own business. While others who doesn't are quite surprised that all of the goddesses are gathered in one place. Plus the fact that there's a kid, and there's a guy, sitting comfortably with them. A sight to behold, I wonder.

"When my sister says this sort of thing, it usually means…" Nepgear suspects.

"…That it'll be something stupid?" Blanc asked.

"I think the question mark at the end wasn't needed…" I add. Not like I'm bothered by something stupid to happen anyways…

"Hurry up and say it. I'll at least humor you and listen" Iffy's surprisingly in a good mood to listen to her ramblings.

"Uh, well… Maybe we shouldn't be so laid back and relaxed"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"WHAT!?"

"Nepu?" I put a hand on Neptune's forehead. Hrm… Normal temperatures.

"…She's not having a fever or anything…" I conclude. Then I check her pulse on her wrist.

"…And her pulse seems normal" maybe it's a disease that doesn't affect both.

"Nepu! I'm not sick or anything, you bully" she said.

"You're probably an impostor, then tell me where've you taken my fiancée?" I interrogate.

"I'm me. I'm not an impostor, sick, or have an alien inside my head. Geez, you're being a bully to me again!" she lightly hits me, repeatedly.

"Geez, I just said something pretty responsible. What's with the harsh treatment? Even the goofy me, will get mad at this"

"No, it _is _a responsible thing to say, but…" Vert has no words for this.

"But its weird having _you _say it out of the blue" we all agree to Noire's testimony.

"Has something within you changed?" mini-Histy asked.

"Naw, I just mean, like… The story's winding down around now, but…" yeah, that is true. We are just having some events not nearly relative to the plot.

"The main character's just relaxing all peaceful-like! It does not. Make. Sense!" doesn't she always want to have peaceful days she could play games all day in peace? Or maybe she's just bored.

"I told you not to read ahead in the script before" Vert said.

"...That was dumber than I had imagined" so what you imagined was even less dumb, Blanc? Please tell me about it.

"*Sigh*… You know, Neptune. You _do _know why Plutia is so intent on relaxing, right?" Noire asked.

"Waaaah! Don't tell her…!" Plutie is embarrassed for some reason.

"I like relaxing with you…" Compa said.

"Well duh, I do too. But it's not okay if all we do is mess around" but all we've been doing up until now _is _mess around. And yup, she's bored alright.

"So what do you suggest?" I ask.

"Duh, the main character has to put her paws in the fire to snag the chestnuts sometimes!" that didn't actually answer my question though.

"Chestnuts? Gimme! Gimme!" Peashy is as spontaneous as ever.

"Huh? No, that was a metaphor. The chestnuts don't exist"

"How can you take something that isn't even there? We have no enemies. Everything's at peace" Iffy stated the facts.

"Maybe some que… Nah…" I stop myself. I remembered that a week ago, the Basilicom said that there aren't any urgent quest for us to partake.

"…Maybe we should fight clones of ourselves" Blanc suggests.

"Uhhh, well, it's like…" Neptune can't think of any activities either.

"AaaaaH! I wanna get chestnuts!" Peashy suddenly jumps on the sofa.

"Aah, Peashy! Please don't get so riled up" Nepgear tells.

"Geez, this is because Nep-Nep went and said such silly things" Compa accuses.

"You never think before you act" Vert adds.

"C-Come on, ladies! No need to gang up on me!" Neptune said back.

"I thought about how stuff's been going and how to make it more exciting, and that was my answer"

"The problem is, we don't have any quest to do, and no enemies to beat" there's also no political crap to worry about, no economical, nor anything to do with the country's needs and wants to be of any issue.

"Ha, ha, ha… Fine. If you're not gonna drop it, how about _I _become your enemy?" Noire has an evil smirk on her face.

"Huh? Noire, what're you saying…?" Plutie asked.

"I knew it! You're betraying us after all!" Neptune accused.

"You're more of a schemer than I thought you'd be…"

"You see, I've done a lot of preparing. So I thought it'd be bad for Plutia, so I held back until now, but…" that was a long time ago. That means today, it's something big now.

"I've been hiding my highest card for after we defeat the Seven Sages!"

"Impossible! You mean…!" Vert seems to understand what she's been trying to imply.

"Huh? Goodness, I really have no idea what's going on right now"

"Don't worry about it Nepgear…" I reassure her.

"…You planned to monopolize the world's shares after we stopped our common enemy?" Blanc said that more of a sentence constructing its thought rather than a question.

"…And to do that, you needed…"

"Um, this is going way over my head…" Compa said.

"Me too…" I have my brain overclocked and I don't know what they're talking about.

"I don't get it too! Me and Compa and Jaweeeed don't get it too!" Peashy randomly said.

"Behold! Lastation's most cutting-edge piece of hardware!"

From out of the blue, or from out of nowhere, Noire pulls out a black box with a smooth clear finish on the top. It's a game console.

The top has an arc the bulges and the bottom, although can't be seen unless you're actually looking for it, is a most likely a box of sorts which has female USB connectors and some ventilation. It's quite big actually and also looks heavy.

"HD-capable, plays Blak-rays, and has an internal hard drive! It's ready for mass production!" ooh, I could say that the size of the thing needs a little tweaking. But I could say that it's justifiable from those specs alone.

"All I have to do is say the word and my nation will take all of the world's shares!" she proudly says.

"Woooow… You were making something like that…?" Plutie is quite impressed.

"As expected of Noire. She never misses a step" mini-Histy is quite impressed.

"You were doing such techy stuff in secret… You're dark, Noire! Darker than black!" Neptune accuses.

"Hehe… Those who no nothing new are the villains of technological progress" touche, Noire.

"So unless you do your best, you'll never, ever get to go back to your own world"

*CHOP!*

"Owwiee~~ Hey, what was that for!" she screams at me.

"Over the line, woman. Over the line"

"Oh, no… That's…"

"I see. You went with Blak-rays. I considered the current market trends and will stick with DVDs" Vert said. DVDs are pretty good in this market trend.

"Naïve, naïve. You can't settle for the current market. You should create a new 'need ' for them!" true. No one would adopt new technology if there isn't a reason to.

"Wait… What _is _that, Vert?" from behind Vert, she seems to pulling out her trump as well.

It's a white box. A simplistic design but still thick like Noire's. The front has giant power button, a DVD drive, and a female USB slot hidden beneath a push able slot. The top and bottom has holes for ventilation. Compared to her old work, this is an appealing look.

"I didn't wish to cause trouble, so I did not release it to the world… until today" Vert said in an air of victory.

"Tch. Wh-Whatever. Your past hardware has a bad reputation over here" Noire rebutted.

"I have learned from my failures. The mainland will love this as I have made several improvements" Vert says so proudly.

"As for you, I see you're just puttering along as always..."

"…I see. If that's how you're going to play it, there's no reason for me to hold anything back" Blanc said, trying to pull something from behind her. I swear, where do they hide these things? I want to learn their little black magic.

"What did you say!?"

"No… Not you, too…!"

Blanc brought out a small white box. The shape is an isosceles trapezoid turned to its side. The front features a simplistic design as well. There's a power button, a reset, and an eject button. There's also a lid where you can connect the peripherals to. The disc drive doesn't have a tray but accepts it as it is being pushed in.

"…My new hardware utilizes motion control and is unlike anything on the market to-date" ooh, motion control. Intriguing.

"…Not only you can use your thumbs, but you can use your whole body to play" Blanc brought out what seems like a remote.

"Ugh. I hate to admit it, but that does not pique my curiosity a bit…" Noire said.

"Unbelievable. The one who barely moves her body came up with such an idea…!" is that praise or insult, Vert?

"…Hmph. With this, Lowee shall once again have the majority of Shares!"

"They're getting sooo worked up about this. So lucky…" Plutie said.

"I think this is a called, birds of a feather" I said.

"Wh-What about us, Histy? Do we have anything cool!?" Neptune asks Histy. Desperate since she doesn't have anything to present.

"*Sigh*…I believe it is your job to think of innovative new ideas" Histy said.

"If Sis didn't say anything, everyone would have to keep guessing… But now…"

"These three are going at it with the big guns and is about to rule over the world or something" I guessed the continuation of Nepgear's words.

"Whenever Nep opens her mouth, the only thing to come out is trouble" Iffy is harsh.

"Nep-Nep, I know you didn't mean anything troublesome by that…" Compa pets her head.

"It's all Neptuna's fault! Everything's her fault!" Peashy is just going with the flow.

"Heeey! Don't say mean things!" Neptune protested.

"Haha… Hm?" suddenly, a basilicom employee comes to Nepgear and whispers something in her ear. I could understand since she's the most approachable person even in this situation.

"Hm? We have guest?" the employee nods. Nepgear stands and the two of them walked off. Hrm? This is odd…

"Hey, hey. What's with my little Sis?" Neptune asked.

"Seems we have guest… Wanna follow?"

"Mhm! It could be another creeper and would go *baaam!* and Nep Jr. would be all *splaaat!*"

"If our guest has green... C'mon, let's go" Neptune and I stood up. The rest except for those 3 noticed.

"Jarey, Neppy? Where are ya going?"

"Following my li'l Sis. Wanna come?"

"Let's go! It might be fun!"

Standing up, we head to the general direction where Nepgear would be at. Even as we leave, I can still hear those three still yapping about their grand scheme to take over the world. It was best to just leave them, I mean, we might get caught up and offer us half of the world to just side one of them. Reaching the front glass doors, we found Nepgear just standing there shocked.

"Huh? Sis…?" Nepgear stammered.

"You called, sis?" Neptune answered.

"Um, no. Not you, Sis. I was talking to Sis" Nepgear turns and answered.

"Haa?" I seriously do not understand.

"Not Sis, but… Sis? Uhhh…"Plutie is as confused as ever.

"You're spouting nonsense" Iffy is really harsh today. Must have been a bad hair day for her.

"I don't really get it, either. Maybe you should come and see for yourselves…" Nepgear points and we look. And just outside we see…

"…"

"Whoa, it's Neptuna! A big and quiet Neptuna!"

That's right. It's Neptune in her HDD. The all too familiar leotard suit and her long purple hair makes her stand out like a sore thumb.

"Quickly Neptune! Hide behind me! You might get dragged to the river again!" I cover Neptune with my body.

"Nepu! I didn't get to see anything!"

"Hmm? Neptune…? But how…? （ﾟдﾟlll)"

"Actually…"

"Whoa! Where did you come from!?" the hell is with people doing with black magic today? Is this black magic day? Can I learn some magic or two? By the way, it's the Basilicom employee from before.

"…We've been seeing her standing there for quite a while now. Not moving an inch…"

"Right…. Now we're dealing with clones now…" good for you Neptune something new to worry about. And no, I'm not being sarcastic here either.

"It would be wise for the entire Basilicom employee's to just leave now..." I tell her.

"I'll announce it through the speakers…"

"Make haste" the employee rans off.

"Wooooow… There are more Neppy's behind her as well…!" Plutie gasped.

"What're you crazy folks talking about? I'm right here" Neptune peeks from behind me.

"…"

"Wow! Who _is _this stylish cool, beautiful girl!?" Neptune is awed.

"How self-absorbed _are _you!? No matter how look at it, this is your HDD form!" Iffy answered.

"Oh, really? Huh. I guess I've never really taken a good look in the mirror after transforming"

"Really? I thought you'd be more self-conscious than that" especially since she talks about how I need more breasts to keep our relationship from falling.

"I'm devotion first, looks second, you know! But still…" she looks at herself.

"…I approve of me. I look pretty hot!" she nods to herself.

"You might even say that it's the reason why I'm head over heels for you. Although I don't mind both versions"

"I prefer the small Nep-Nep" Compa says her preference.

"I like the little one, too!" Peashy says along.

"They're both sooooo cool to me…" Plutie said.

"Everyone, stop. That isn't really what we should be discussing at the moment" Nepgear said. I know.

"We need to figure out how two Neps can exist at the same time!"

"It's kinda easy going by the pattern of things…" I said.

"Well, generally speaking, when phonies like this appear, it means…"

"…"

*BANG!*

Suddenly 'HDD Neptune' copy, charges straight towards us. I grab the original Neptune and push the rest of the girls aside. I barely dodged the sword that she has swinging while flying pass us. Following Newton's first law of motion, she barely stops herself and flies through the reception the desk and the wall behind it. Creating a huge hole in the wall.

She seems faster than the original but more so, she's much more sturdier than she looks.

"*Sigh*…I guess we're having the clone wars next"


	143. Chapter 143

Chapter 143:

"Calm down. We're trying to figure this out" Noire comes running.

"Will Neptune go berserk? She's already transformed and seems rather one edge" Vert said calmly.

"…I honestly thought that Plutia would've gone berserk first" Blanc isn't too far off.

"I don't go berserk… Well, not very often…" she's self-aware.

"…At least you're not completely oblivious to it"

"I just said that we shouldn't be having idle conversations right now!" Nepgear said, frantic at how calm we are.

"…"

*BANG!*

"…!" our Neptune-clone suddenly flies towards us faster than a bullet. She readies her weapon below and swings it upwards. I bend over and dodge the sword by only centimeters. I then twist my body and perform a back kick to her abdomen. She was thrown back to where she came from.

-Maybe I should call her Purple Heart-clone since Purple Heart itself is both a title and a name for Neptune, plus I use it rarely whenever I call out to her. It'd be a good opportunity and it wouldn't be tooconfusing for you guys as well.

"She's pretty frustrated…"

"Two Neptunes… But how…?" Noire only just noticed.

"Don't ask me" Compa said.

"For the time being, we can be sure that the copy is our foe" Vert reinstated.

"Ahahaha! I'm over here, Neptuna! Ahahaha!" looking all over, I see P-ko a little farther ways from us in the lobby. She's just jumping around waving her arms, making sure that Purple Heart-copy would notice her.

"P-ko, this isn't a game! Ugh, if it's come to this" Neptune transforms.

" 'I cannot bear to watch someone with my form go wild like this. Cease this at once!' "

"You really should have stayed you transformation. It would have been less confusing" I said.

" 'Oh…' " I facepalm.

" 'Well, if it comes down to that I know that you won't mistake me…' " she shows off her ring.

"Even without that, I can still tell"

"Ooh, I'll change too! I'll change too!" Peashy transforms.

" 'Ahahaha! It's totally fine if I knock that phony Neptuna out, right?' "

" 'Yes. But just to be sure, you _are _able to distinguish between the fake and I, correct?' "

" 'Well, yeah! The one who talks is the good Neptuna, and the quiet one is the bad Neptuna!' " such simple logic.

" '…I should make constant noise while in battle, just to be safe' "

"Please do" I'll get a good laugh out of it.

" 'I think I better stay quiet then…' "

"Dammit, your mind reading powers has increased"

"…"

*BANG!*

Purple Heart-copy lunges towards us her sword ready to swing her sword around. Neptune flies in to intercept the attack.

*CLASH!*

Their swords clash against one another. Standing so close together, one would easily fail to keep track of who's who. Neptune draws a circle with her sword, parrying her copy's sword. Her copy, still wearing her poker face, suddenly ducks down and sweeps a leg. Seeing this, Neptune reverses the hold on her sword and stabs the ground with it, blocking the attack.

Purple Heart-clone then twists her body as she rises to perform another swing of her leg. Neptune ducks, takes her sword, and swings it towards her. Using the momentum of the kick, the clone swings her other foot. The sword barely reached her. Neptune recovers from her swing and miss, and readies the flat of her sword to block the oncoming attack.

" 'What!?' "

The moment the first foot that the clone swung hits the ground, she uses it as pivot to twist her body, retracting the second attack and perform hook kick instead.

"Dammit, this clone's strong…"

" 'You should have said that you wanted to join in…' " Neptune said.

"I thought about it, and I haven't been flexing my muscles a bit lately. It wouldn't be good for my title as a passerby…!"

" 'HAAAAAH!' "

Peashy flies in and swings her claws at our clone friend. Purple Heart-clone jumps back avoiding the near miss. Peashy's inertia didn't stop there, and uses the circular motion of her attack to swing at her again. The clone ducks under it.

"…"

" 'Haaaah!' "

Peashy takes a step forward closer to the clone. And with right claw, proceeds to jab her relentlessly stepping closer as she does so. The clone dodges, with strands of its hair getting cut off.

"…"

" 'Hah!' " seeing that she's closer no, she quickly stops her attacks and uses her shoulder to ram against the clone. The clone was pushed to the ground, near her sword.

Peashy steps in swings an uppercut with her claws, making her fly up in the air. The clone rolls back, and grabs her sword as she is recovering. Peashy falls back down, using gravity to add weight to her next attack. The clone stands and blocks it.

*BAM!*

" 'Ha!' " Neptune comes from behind her clone. The clone jumps taking the bait.

"…!" I run up to the clone at this time and twist and perform a double back at the clone's abdomen.

Purple Heart-clone was kicked towards the ground. She rolls and recovers, and flies towards us.

*BANG!*

"Neptune!"

I grab the katana in reverse that appears before me. Purple Heart-clone swings its sword at me. I swing mine to intercept.

*CLASH!*

The moment the sword made contact, I tilt towards the ground. Sliding the clone's sword towards the floor as well as mine stabbing the ground. With my free hand, I form to the fist and swing it towards it. The clone leans back, dodging it by only a few. I take a step, bend, and tilt the sword as I do so. I guide my still swinging fist towards the handle of the blade.

*SWING!*

*CLASH!*

A giant swing. Powerful enough that our clone was fazed by it once she blocked it. The clone's sword swings in the air once more. I twist, redirecting the velocity of the sword. I run towards the clone's side during its stun time.

*BANG!* *BANG!*

" 'Haaaah!' "

" 'YAAAAAH! "

The other two rushed towards the clone, pinning it in place.

"…"

*CLASH!*

But not all plans go as expected. Our clone suddenly jumps resulting in our weapons clashing with one another. The clone points the sword towards us and dives right down. I break our deadlock and the three of us jumps back.

*BAM!* *BANG!*

"Shit…!" the moment it lands it lunges towards me dangerously. The clone swings its sword at me.

*CLASH!*

"Tch…!" the impact made my hand numb and let go of the sword in reaction. It flies up over me. I clone takes a step forward. Damn, I've got my arms spread out and can't move them for some moments. Not like they'll be useful in defending a fully sharpened sword.

" 'Jared!' "

From behind the clone, Neptune threw her sword towards its back. The clone quickly takes her foot down and redirects her direction.

*BANG!*

Neptune flies on top and grabs the sword that had been deflected. The distance between her and her clone is could be classified as dangerous.

" 'I want to be in the fun too!' "

*BANG!*

Peashy flies in from the side getting ready to swing her golden-yellow claws.

Since she's out of place now, Neptune's futuristic purple katana's handle meets my hand. I twist and swing it from under her. Causing for a three pincer attack.

"…"

*CLASH!*

" 'What!?' "

"Tch…!"

" 'Whoa, the fake Neptuna vanished!' " Peashy said.

Suddenly she disappeared. Like a magic act and wasting no moment. I use my instincts instantly and confirmed that no hostiles are around us hiding. She really did disappear. Our weapons collided because of it. The three of us recovers and let our weapon's disappear from us. The rest of the girls ran up to us.

"Oh dear… The Basilicom's walls are all scuffed up…" mini-Histy said.

"There, there. If we scrub them down, they'll clean up just fine" Compa said.

"I don't think just scrubbing them would be enough though" I said.

"What was that about? Who would create a fake version of my sister…?" Nepgear asks.

"It's Zith of the Republic right?"

"We don't have any intergalactical conflict though…" Vert shot me down.

"…And also saying 'create' doesn't do it justice. Its appearance was far too elaborate. Also…"

" 'I know. Its battle ability was on par with my own, perhaps even higher. Alone, I may have lost…' " Neptune said.

"True. If it truly were a clone of Neptune, she would have lost the moment we pinched her the first time" reckless abandonment? No. The clone doesn't harbor any fear of death nor pain.

"Maybe that robot creep is behind this" Noire said.

"That's hard to believe. It would be strange if he waited all this time to bring them out" Vert said.

"Plus, he wouldn't be able to get the chance anyway"

"I wonder if only Neppy has fakes… Maybe there's one of me…" Plutie is hopeful.

"P-Please don't say such scary things if there was more than one transformed Plutias…"

"Nooooooo! Don't say anymore! I don't want to imagine it!" Iffy tells Nepgear to stop.

"…The world would end" Blanc concludes.

" 'Maybe I have a twin! I wanna play with me!' "

"You're way too happy about it" Noire comments.

"The battle is over, so please return to your human form, Peashy" Vert said.

"Seeing you in that form brings up many… complicated emotions in me" please don't be so insecure about breast sizes.

" 'Okaaay!' " Peashy cancels her transformation.

"There, I'm little again, BerBer!"

"Ahh, you are far more adorable this way"

" 'Ah' "

"Huh? You aren't gonna change back Neppy…?"

"Realized something?" I said.

"Mhm, I just remembered something. The final member of the Seven Sages…"

"Final member? Oh, she appeared in TV that one time, right? What was her name…?" Noire thinks.

"Rei Ryghts" I answered.

"The same lady existed in our world, too" Nepgear adds.

"Mama. That's my Mama!"

"No, she's not your real mother. Stop saying that, will you?" Iffy tells Peashy.

"Huh? Why? Mama and Papa were nice to me, so I like them" right. My formula just 'recovered' her lost memories. By that logic, her 'reconstructed' memories is still there.

"It is difficult to pin them as wicked people, seeing Peashy so cheerful like this" mini-Histy said.

"Children are innocent beings"

"I wonder about that. I mean, that creeper pretended to be her father, after all" Noire is still disgusted by her secret admirer.

"…Based on what I saw on TV, that woman looked like a typical meek and unreliable person" Blanc says her observations.

"Okay, so what about the other Rei…?" Plutie asked about the Rei from our dimension.

" 'She is probably the one who sent me to this world' "

"Probably?" Compa asks.

" 'I have no solid proof. But at the time, only she and I were in that place…' "

"You mean the forest outside of Planeptune?" I ask for clarification.

" 'Mhm' "

"I see…" that explains.

" 'But if she has that kind of power, she may be able to create a duplicate of me' "

"It is a bad habit to compound speculation upon speculation" Vert said.

"True. But they do say that to 'find the truth it begins with speculations'"

"…It's a stretch, but we can't deny that _someone_ made that duplicate" Blanc said.

"Hey, Peashy? What kind of person is Miss Rei? Could she do something like this?"

"Um, Mama was very nice and she was always nervous or worrying about stuff!"

"That is entirely unhelpful" on the contrary of Iffy's statement, any info is helpful, however little.

"Maybe we should ask Mister Mouse about her?" Compa suggests.

"…That loud, gigantic robot is at my Basilicom, as well" Blanc said.

"Even if there's a slim chance they know something, we should find out everything we can" Noire said.

" 'Yes, let's' "

"Hrm…" maybe I should try out _that _place.


	144. Chapter 144

Chapter 144:

"Hrm… I think I remembered that this door needs to have Nepgear's device" well, Nepgear isn't here anyway. And also, like I need it anyway.

The familiar forest, and the familiar side of a mountain. The sun is blessing me with its heat and the trees rustle gently. There's a gentle wind and for some reason, there's also a breeze that's flowing from the inside, through the open door that I pried one month ago. Luckily getting here didn't require me to kill of some monsters.

I'm at Anonydeath's lair. I remembered that the main terminal here has a lot of info that I just skimmed through. Most of them, if not all are the ones that I've been trying to find to overturn Eden years ago. Since I just skimmed through all of it last time, I wanted to read them all. Maybe I could find something juicy to work on.

"Still, it's weird that the hallway is lit" rather dim, true. But someone has been maintaining the electricity here.

"Plus it's dusty here" and that someone has not been maintaining the cleanliness of this place.

I enter the hallway and retrace my steps. My steps echo audibly without me meaning to. The settled dust are disturbed by my presence. Because of it, it tickles my nose, and I can almost feel a sneeze about to come. And the dust almost acts as fog, making visibility a bit lower compared to last time.

Rounding a familiar corner, I found a decommissioned spider tank, and evidence of what was once a cave in. Blanc really did a good job into caving in this hallway and leading the spider tank into a trap. From what I can see, I see no evidence of it ever attempting to be fixed. Nor there were any attempt to remove this from the hall itself.

"Someone's lazy…" reminds me of Neptune. Well she's not lazy all the time, but you get the point.

Moving on, I round the next corner. The hallway is clean of anything other than dust. The same as before there's nothing of interest worth noting here. The urge to sneeze is really slowly rising inside me.

_Big Brother…_

"Hmm…" I look behind. There's nothing there... but…

"...Is someone there?" I ask the void called silence.

"…" no one answered.

"…*Sigh*…"

* * *

"Here…" I found it.

I found the open door that I've been looking for. And I also found a very foul stench. To the inexperienced, it's so repugnant that it's enough to knock you backwards. It's like the smell of a month's worth of garbage left to ferment in the heat mixed with the smell of a pig, left in the heat after you removed it in a sealed container. It's the kind of unique odor that once smelled, it's engraved in the brain.

I enter the control room. There are no flashing lights, nor LEDs blinking nor the monitors open. A void called darkness. I can hear the flies buzzing around, the foul smell concentrated heavily on one spot that I can almost taste it. I pop open my phone, and point the screen into the dark. But the light can only illuminate a few feet away.

I walk inside pointing the phone on the ground. The foul stench is getting stronger by each step. By the time, that the smell is barely bearable now, I see feet. They're hanging off from the ground by a few feet. And by the way, the color of the feet is black. I slowly point my phone up…

"…"

A corpse. The cause of the death was by not having enough oxygen. A suicide. From the looks of how the tissues are decayed, it seems that the corpse dies 2 weeks ago. Mollusks crawls form the eyeballs. Larvae are crawling from the holes of its black decaying skin. There's a chair tumbled to the side, he must have jumped off and hanged himself.

"…Do you see how cruel the world is now…Anonydeath…" so cruel that it would push you to suicide.

"...Feel free to haunt me if you like… That is after all, your actions…" I said.

"Maybe I should have seen you and your last moments…" that'd be a sight for sore eyes.

Pointing my phone to one part of the room, I found the terminal that I had worked on a month ago. I head over to it and look for the power switch on this thing. It takes a while, but I found that I can switch it on from under the keyboard. After waiting for it to boot, I type a simple on the keyboard and bring up the console to type in some commands.

I first check the harddrive integrity, and it seems it's undisturbed. Checking my IP, I see that I'm connected to the internet through LAN. I type in a few codes and release the IP to cut me off the internet so that no unwanted attention would know what I'm doing. Then, I started searching for the files that I skimmed through last time.

"Here's one…" I found one folder…

"…Let's see here… " I open every folder and file that I could see.

If it were ten years ago I'd be dancing with joy as this is all the info that I needed at the time. But with Eden now gone, it isn't a stretch to say that all of these are useless now. But the info here is quite juicy and thick. You wouldn't even think that all of these are being operated under seven people.

We have the Goddess project, which we all know by now. They experimented it on street children so no one would notice the kidnappings, then they'll force the CPU memory on to them. But with the CPU memory's 50-50 chance, all of the experiments ended in failure. With one being an exception, and that is Peashy.

"…Deep shit…" there are even pictures of the dead children found here. So there were other bases besides the one that I destroyed 10 years ago.

"What this…? Plans on how to counter Lowee's defenses?" there's also plans here for the rest of the countries as well.

It even listed the number of guards surrounding the border, the average number of recruits, the average number of retirees. A full list times of when to border guards take their shift. They even have the list of every squad that Lowee has. There's a list of armaments that they have as well. Hell, they even have a bingo book of every soldier out there. There's also strategic points on where Lowee would be most vulnerable if ever an attack happens.

"This isn't a work of seven people" given that Mr. Badd had worked in Lowee. I'm willing to bet that even he couldn't get this much info on Lowee. There's even a list of mac addresses that Lowee has to use for hacking.

"Someone's providing them info…" the question is who exactly. I can't believe that Anonydeath even has this kinds of info here.

"Oh, wow… A red room video file…" let me tell you guys what a red room is. It's a term used in the deep web. A room is when there's a bunch of people watching a stream. Then the red part symbolizes the color of blood. Yeah, it's some gruesome shit.

"I want to play it but…" I'm only here for a limited amount of time. I'll save it on my phone and make sure to watch it when no one is but me is at home.

"Might as well save these documents as well if I'm going to do that…" I take out my phone and a USB cable for it. Although my phone is a clamp shell type, it's USB 1.0 ready. I find the USB in the terminal and plug the cable in. Once the phone is recognized, I select every folder and copy it onto the phone.

I search around the files while they're being copied.

"Hrm… A bingo book again…" I open the file. And the first thing I see is a picture of me.

"I'm on the front page… I'm probably pretty popular…" the first page with a picture of me, contains my height and estimated weight. The name is listed as Jared, the age is unknown and my birthday is unknown. In the additional notes section it's listed as…

"…Extremely dangerous. Extreme caution is advised. Wow…" front page. I really am one hell of a passerby.

"Let's see. Next one is…Hrm? Nothing more…" what's a bingo book if I'm the only target?

"Oh well, moving on…" I close the file and open another file.

"Hrm… Oh, what's this…?" there's an entry date written the first line that I read.

"And it's dated almost 35 years ago…" I give the file a quick scan.

"A diary, huh…Hmm?" I quickly scroll up to a specific part of a page. I think I just saw name…

"Rei Ryghts…"


	145. Chapter 145

Chapter 145:

"…I see…" so that's how it all started.

"Rei Ryghts…" another victim of the world. The world truly is cruel to any of us. It doesn't pick its victims. It just does its cruelty like it doesn't give a damn

"…She's underestimating the humans…" goddess or not, they, or her rather, was human once. And humans has a certain perk that no beings have.

"…She doesn't get it at all…" her hate is misplaced. But it's understandable where she's coming from.

"What is it that I don't get…" woman's voice. And 4 pairs of footsteps are coming in towards me.

I turn around slowly, giving the progress on the progress bar a quick look. It's just a few files left. I cover the phone as well as the progress bar with my body and face my adversaries. There are 4… Noires. All of them identical to Noire's HDD form. Even her weapon is identical. The weight on their steps and how they all walk, screams of anything about Noire.

"…What? Why didn't nay tell me that this is Noire day? I would've cosplayed as Noire if I knew…" I said. I know that the clones wasn't the one that spoke.

"Hahaha… Interesting. You're really interesting!" the voice of a maniacal woman resonates.

"...Where are you, Rei? I kinda want to see you're charming hysterical side" I taunt her. The Black Heart- clones comes closer a step further.

"Huh? And why would I even do that? You're a pest, I don't need to grace you with my presence you pest" ooh, high and mighty.

"C'mon, this _pest_. Isn't one to take on lightly you know…" I think the files sending is about done.

"Hahaha~! You're still a pest to me! Want to try it?"

"Heh… I might… the offer's tempting…"

I look around, with the room's poor visibility and a dead body to hanging around in the middle to boot. I might be able to take care of these 4 quickly. Although 4 Black Heart-clones, by any stretch of the imagination isn't really that much hard to deal with anyway. But, I do want to know where the Rei is taking refuge right now. This hysterical and tyrannical voice of hers indicates that she's in her HDD mode, according to the diary. But looking around, with my brain overclocked already, I can't see nor sense any other presence other than 4 clones and a dead body. What to do, what to do…

…Oh, I got one. I do hope my wife-to-be understands.

"Tell you what Rei, I am a pest. So much of a pest that I'm willing to exchange info for my escape here…"

"Haaa!? And why would I believe you!?" I can't find the source of the voice anywhere. Mus be her quirks as a goddess.

"It'd be faster for you right? For your plan at least… Heck you can rip me shreds right afterwards, I don't mind" I say so in the best business tone that I could muster.

"Hmmm? But I still don't wanna…!"

"You sure about that? I'm willing to give you info on where the CPUs are" like hell I would. But...

"Hehehe~! You think I'm going to fall for that!? Make them come to _me_, instead!"

"Fair enough. Sure, let's make them come to you…"

"Ahahaha! You're really going to sell those bitches out!?"

"Yeah, I'm going to lead them to a trap here… C'mon, you have clones, what do to they have in terms of numbers? You can send out a bunch of them if you want" I talk to the void called darkness.

"Hahahahahaha! Fine! Do what you want! Get them to that our base and let them die! I'll let you live if they die there! Ahahaahahaha!" there means back to Eden right?

"Sure…" it didn't respond after that. The clones are still here though, and judging by their readied stances they're really going to cut me down if I was bluffing. Oh well, let's give it a shot anyway.

I noticed this a while ago, but there is an audio editing program here on the desktop. I already gave it a quick open awhile ago while I was reading off the document earlier. It seems I can change my voice on the fly as well. Then an idea came to me, hence the whole baiting them here. Although it might be something sinister coming from me. I do know Neptune better than anyone. And she knows me better as well.

There's also an executable file that I found which leads to the mic being open and somehow transmitting the voice to the certain IP and Mac address. I don't recognize the IP but I do recognize the Mac address. Somehow Nepgear's work on a certain woman's room didn't clean out all the bugs.

Although it doesn't make actual sense by doing this. I should tell them normally without alteration. But seeing that mac address that I recognize of a certain woman, I can't help but humor myself in this situation.

Also, I know that I can probably take on these 4. But when I heard that she wants the girls to be at their base, I knew that she's going to take care of them herself if by chance her clones fail her. It'd be the fastest way to take her out. Of course, I have to get there herself. Not like I don't trust the girls, I just want some workout.

Lastly, I know no one has heard of anything from Anonydeath so far. Maybe by doing this, they might be able to arise their suspicions and start looking for this dead smelly corpse hanging around, and bury him properly. I can't since I'm the one that pushed the guy.

"Let's give it a shot then…" I press the record button and test my voice.

" "All right! Mic test 1 mic test… whoa I sound like Anonydeath… " " I havea slightly higher voice now.

" "How does Anony say it? Noire… Noire… No~~irrrre! Kyaah! Oh my dear goddess Noire!" " I sound like a pervert or some desperate fan of hers. But this is how he projects his voice.

"Alright, let's give it a go…" I run the executable file. And instantly it connects to that certain mac address.

"_Right. I can't believe my guts were wrong…_" I hear my woman's voice through the included speakers. She seems disheartened.

"_But we were able to eliminate one possibility, so it wasn't a complete waste of time_"

"_Nepgear, I think you're trying a little too hard to cover for her_" I hear Vert say.

"…_It's hopeless to try and spin her mistakes into something helpful_" Blanc adds.

Wait, why are they there again? Oh right, they wanted to discuss about Rei, so the former Seven, whoever is available and willing, got together in a certain woman's Basilicom. I said that I need to go somewhere and can't make it. Oh well, it's the perfect bait.

"Ehem… "Not true at all, dearies. Neptune's gut feeling is absolutely correct!" " dear gawd that voice changer works like a charm. I might need a copy.

"_Nepu! That voice…!_"

"_The creepazoid again!?_" that hurts Noire, I'm not creep.

" "*Sigh*, that's the only name I'll ever hear from you, isn't it? How sad…" " I'm getting more and more into the act.

"_Huh? Huh? Where's that voice coming from? I checked very carefully for webcams and audio devices!_"

Oh shit, what should I say about this. I mean, I'm not Anonydeath and I clearly don't know what the hell she just did. I also did my part onto the anti-hacking incident, but that was only limited to Lastation. The security on Noire's room was all on Nepgear. Think, overclocked brain. If I were Anonydeath what would I do…

" "Hmph. Your little toy wasn't bad, my lovely Gear-head, but saying you are a designer is… a stretch" " I just started with that line but I don't know what to say next… My criminal mind failed me…

" "Just a little signal jam here and there did the trick!" " I'll just wing it like that.

"_Goodness! Now that you mention it, I didn't incorporate anything to resist signal jamiming!_" damn, I just randomly guessed of what he'd say. I really do have potential to bend a spoon.

"_Hey! I know that voice! Anonydeath, is that you? NOSTALGIC!_" and your loud voice can instantly be recognized everywhere.

"_Papa? Papa!_" somehow, hearing that from Peashy makes me all giddy inside.

"_Sounds like I might be rescued from all this fur pulling, chu…_" oh, it's the rat. It really is nostalgic.

"_Not showing yourself? You're putting on airs, as usual_" and it's Mr. Badd. I wanted to ask how his daughters are doing, but I have to restrain myself, I am Anonydeath for now.

" "Sorry, my lovelies. I wanted to join, but there are several cute reasons why I can't do that" " like the one you're assuming is just 'hanging' around.

"_Hmph! I don't want to see your stupid face anyway!_" is that Abnes? That's harsh.

"_Hey, hey. What did he mean by that thing he said…?_" Plutie wondered.

"_I'm curious about what you meant by saying Neptune was right_" Vert adds.

"…_What did you mean by that?_" Blanc asked.

" "It means what I said. Dear little Rei is the one who made the fake Purple Heart" "

"_Ooh! I am so amazing! Main characters who jump to conclusion are always right!_" Neptune cheered.

"_Quit spouting such foolishness. There's no way that woman…_" Mr. Badd can't believe it.

"_Mama is bad?_" Peashy asked.

" "I'm not sure how, but I cannot doubt the evidence that is right in front of me" "

"_…Are you in some kind of trouble? That'd make your statement a little bit more believble_" Blanc asked with the benefit of doubt.

" "…I'll get to that in due time" " let's start with a bit of intro.

" "After our baby lost to you all, I left the Seven Sages. Basically, the band broke up" "

"_Yeah, it'd be kind of difficult to call one girl the Seven Sages_" there's a song where its name has the word septette. Meaning 'seven instruments or voices'. But there's a version of the song where it can be played by one piano. So no, it's not the difficult at all.

"_Yep! There's no helping it, but it's sad to see the group you were a part of break up_" Copypaste said softly.

"_It's fine by me. You deserve this for committing crimes against children_" you're still on about that Abnes?

" "I left our base, only to realize that I forgot some important data in my place, so I returned there to retrieve it" " I'm literally pulling these things out of my ass.

" "Then I saw a wicked-looking Rei. And in the blink of an eye, I was overcome by a fake CPU" " I said my situation as well.

"_So you're being held captive?_" Nepgear discerns.

"_And yet you can speak with us. Sounds like another lie to me_" Noire is doubtful today.

" "Oh, this? I'm doing this as part of Rei's orders, actually. She wants me to become CPU bait" " I answered.

" "She's totally different now. She can give orders and act quite self-important" " if Rei's listening, then she wouldn't dumb enough that I'm mocking her.

"_…Any thoughts?_" Blanc asked.

"_Sorry, but I seriously doubt she'd become anything like that!_" Copypaste doesn't buy it.

"_Same here, chumps, chu_"

"_I agree, but I also feel you wouldn't tell such a transparent lie_" Mr. Badd doesn't buy at it as well. Damn, how am I going to get them there? Oh wait, I know!

"_Not like it matters. There's no reason for us to go anywhere_" Noire says. Not taking the bait.

"_We won't help Mister Creeper?_" calling me Mister Creeper, even if I'm just voice acting, hurts like crap Plutie!

" "My, you're extra frost today, my lovely Noire!" "

"_Uh, I wanna go. I mean, no matter how we slice it, someone made a copy of me…_" nice thinking Neptune, keep on pushing them that idea.

"_It's quite rare to hear such a legitimate concern, other than your concerns for Jared, from you_" Vert comments.

"…_It'd be a problem if another copy were made and sent to wreak havoc in a town_" that is true, Blanc. So take the bait already or I'd have to use these 4 to get a certain someone riled up.

"_We'll deal with that when it happens. In any event, I'll never go save this freak_" you left me with no choice Noire. Now, how would Anonydeath say it?

" "If Noire is that insistent, I suppose It can't be helped. I'll replete myself with this…" " a suggestive tone.

"_Replete? What's that?_" Peashy asked.

"_Um, it means something similar to satisfying oneself..._" Nepgear knows her vocabulary.

"_Ooh, Nepgear's smart!_"

"_Sooo, he's captured, but he's having fun…?_" I can hear Plutie's question marks pop up even more.

" "I am indeed. I am surrounded by four fake little Noires at the moment" "

"…_Eh?_"

" "In form only, of course. They do not speak, nor do they respond, no matter where I grab them…" "

"_Wh-Where do you think you're grabbing!?_" Noire demands the answer.

" "Oh dear. I couldn't possibly tell you. Noire you pervert!" " I've said it before but teasing the woman is just fulfilling.

"_Wh-Wh-whaaaaa!?_" see? You could hear reactions like these.

"_I think that means he's grabbing not-your boobies_" I didn't and never will Neptune.

"_Wow. I mean, even though they're just copies, that's really icky_" Nepgear's disgusted.

"_Hey! Don't have such filthy conversations when there are children around!_" Abnes yelled.

"_Pervert? Is Noire a pervert…?_" Peashy innocently asked.

"_Yes. Noire is a dirty girl, Peashy_" Vert answered her honestly.

"_Stop it! Don't make her think something weird like that! Ugh, fine, let's go! Now!_" nice one Noire.

"_What? You're going to save him after all, Tsundere Maiden?_" Neptune teased.

"_When the situation is as messed up as this, what girl _wouldn't _act tsundere!?_" Noire is royally pissed.

" "Ahaha. As I thought, only the real Noire interests me! Please come save me, honey!" " I'm lying. Neptune only interests me.

"_Shut up! And don't lay another finger on the fake mes!_"

"_And also… The moon is really pretty tonight…_" I close the communication.

"Hey…" it's Rei again. I can't seem to know where the fuck is she? She must be bouncing her voice from a source or somewhere.

"What? I got them to come to the base. So you're going to let me go now?"

"No… Ehehe... I told you that if they die there then you get to live… But there's a little change of plans…"

"What? I need to prepare the morgue and the coffins, thank you very much"

"I want to get over here. And watch those CPUs get killed slowly! Aheheehe!"

"Hey, that's not what we agreed on!" I said.

"What? You're already this far ahead you chicken? You're going to back out of your little betrayal?"

"…tch!" I click my tongue loudly.

"I'd get killed either way, right?"

"Ahahahaha! Glad you understand where you are against this self-important bitch!"

"Fine… take me then…"

"Bye! I'm going to get prepared and give you show tonight! Ahahahahahaha!"

The four Black Heart-clones comes closer to me. Two of them jerks both of my hands behind me the one behind me, grabs my arm and both of my wrist as if about to break it. The one at the front, jerks her towards the outside. She turns on her heels and walks. The Noires beside me pushes forward, signifying me to walk and follow.

"Gullible little bitch…" I whisper under my breath.


	146. Chapter 146

Chapter 146:

"This place again?"

"You're going to watch from here while I kill off those bitchy CPUs!" I can still hear Rei's voice. It seems it's coming from the walls. It must be one of her crazy lunatic powers as a CPU.

After walking a few kilometers from Anonydeath's lair, passing through a literal ghost town, headed into the Eden's abandoned Basilicom, follow the same path that I did last time, and headed back here in the surveillance room. If Neptune were here, she'd disapprove of this backtracking.

The four Black Heart-clones gather up at the door like a wall, blocking me from my escape. The number of monitors on the other end, are all showing from the same footage. And on every terminal this room has, also shows the same thing on the monitor.

The footage shows a group of girls with a kid, walking in the middle of the street like as though they don't mind the city being void of people, following a seriously pissed off black twin tailed girl. There's also one girl who is struggling to catch up to the group. I try to mess around with one terminal but all my commands are rendered useless.

"…Well fuck…" I thought I could get a hold on Rei's position while I'm already here. Seems she wants me to watch how those girls would fair without me.

"They're already strong by default, so I don't think they'd lose" you can say I'm overly optimistic since they're fighting clones who are way stronger than them. But, a little bit of teamwork should be enough.

"Oh well… Better sit around then…" I sit on one of the chairs. I don't feel like sleeping though, but I do have the urge to fiddle around with the setting on this terminal though.

"Oh right… I forgot to test this out…" I turn towards the clones and 'stare' at them directly.

"…"

"As expected…" no reaction. They are clones after all, they might not even feel anything.

Maybe that's why they're so strong? Humans do have to the tendency to back away from pain. If it hurts, it hurts as they say. Humans do have what they call limiters. And these limiters are called pain. If you remove the sense of pain, then you'll be able to swing your fists around without worrying if it hurts or not. Heck you even feel how much strength you're using, you're just swinging it.

Against humans who have subconsciously put up their limiters, the clones have infinite more possibilities.

"Nothing I can do for now other than to just sit and watch the show, I guess" I do wish I have some popcorn to go with this. With both hands behind my head, I watch what the screen is making me watch.

* * *

"Pick up the pace! C'mon, get the lead out!"

"Wait! You're going sooo fast, Noire…!" Plutia tries to catch up to the group.

"Ploot! Do your best!" the child cheered.

"Noire's really tuckin' it…" Neptune is astonished.

"Hmhmm. Like a knight going to rescue the princess" Vert said a simile.

"I know it's just a rough comparison to be funny, but don't say that sort of thing"

The girls have arrived in the abandoned city of Eden. Of course with their usual banter and bickering, they don't realize that this country has been deprived of people ever since Peashy has regained her memories. Partly due to a certain passerby, but that is another case for now.

Fearing that her clones might get soiled, Noire puts one foot after the other in front of the rest of the girls that follows suit behind her.

"Everyone, I think Noire is really upset right now…" Nepgear said.

"…Shriveled, blackened hearts no longer know how to take a joke" Blanc side-comments.

"I'd like to hear you say that when you're in my position!" Noire shouts behind her.

"There's no way that would ever happen. Blanc lacks anywhere tempting to touch" a certain passerby is laughing right now upon hearing Vert's comment.

"…Even if we were just joking, don't utter that kind of shit"

"See? I rest my case"

"I don't remember the last time everyone in the part was all claws and no hugs like this" Neptune reminisced.

"Why's everyone angry?" Peashy asked innocently.

"It's actually a pretty complex situation to explain…" words eluded Nepgear.

"Booo… Time for a break…" finally caught up with the rest of the group, Plutia sits down and rests on the side of the street. She catches her breath and takes her shoes off for a moment to give her feet a little fresh air before they start moving again.

*THUNK!* *THUNK!*

"Hmmm…?" Plutia turns to a mysterious-metallic-object-hitting-something-concrete sound.

"…"

And right in front of her is a light blue haired girl, wearing a white bathing suit with unattached sleeves, with some patches of red. Even her lower region is entirely colored red. Her boots resemble more like sandals with the red coloring and are black on bottom. She has a giant axe on her as well…

It takes a while, no, 5 whole seconds before Plutia's braind recognizes the person in front of her.

"Blanny? Oh, wait… If there's a Blanny over there, that means… Uh…"

"…!" this "Blanny" raised her axe.

"Hweeeeeeeeeeeh!"

*BAM!*

The axe drops down on where Plutia was. Luckily, Plutia had dodged it while she screamed. And ran over to the group hiding behind them.

"Plutia?" Nepgear turns towards Plutia.

"What's wrong, Ploot?" as well as Peashy.

"B-Blanny hit me!" she accuses.

"…Huh? The hell're you talking about?" Blanc asked slightly pissed for being accused for such a thing.

"I see. Blanc has grown unable to restrain her raw lust for the vulnerable and slow Plutie!" Neptune pours out randomly to support the accusation.

"Like hell! You've been staring blankly at me this whole time!"

"Let us cut the foolishness. It appears Blanc isn't the only one to have come out" understanding the situation well, Vert turns points to one of the alley's that is a 2 lots away from them.

"…"

"…"

And from both the left side and right, a clone of Yellow Heart and for Green Heart appears. They walk out of the alleys and into the middle of the street. Clearly giving a sign that none shall pass beyond that point.

"Whoa, the big me! But why?" Peashy sees her very self in bewilderment.

"There are a bunch of copies around here…" Noire calmly said, knowing that there are more of them hiding in alleys and buildings.

"Does the mean a copy of me will come out soon? That may make it hard for me to fight…" Nepgear lets out her concern.

"No sweat, lil' sis! I'll beat her cute little face in before you get a look at her!" Neptune declared.

"That's not very reassuring for some reason…" Nepgear feels conflicted.

"Enough foolishness, I said! They're coming!"

"…!"


	147. Chapter 147

_A/N: Real life is annoying this year_

* * *

Chapter 147:

" 'Hyaaaaah!' "

" 'YAAAAAAAH!' "

" 'Multiple Beam Launcher…Fire!' "

*BANG!*

The Green Heart-clone dodged all of the attacks with ease. She side stepped from Nepgear's beam, and lunges towards her shortening their distance in a second flat. The clone thrusts its spear towards her, Nepgear steps back and leans back to dodge it.

*BANG!*

Nepgear pointed her gun-blade towards Green Heart-clone and fired. Anticipating it, the clone moves towards the side avoiding a fatal hit.

" 'Hyaaah!' "

*BANG!* *CLASH!*

Vert snuck from behind and attempts to thrust at her clone. Her clone blocks the attack.

*BANG!*

From above them, White Heart-clone drops down with her axe swinging towards Vert. Vert pushes her clone and jumps back.

*BAM!*

White Heart-clone hits the solid asphalt creating a dust cloud around her. Vert back off a bit trying not to get caught in it.

" 'Haaah!' "

" 'I owe you one!' "

From the dust cloud, Yellow Heart-clone attempts to sneak attack them. Noire intercepts the golden-claw of the clone before it cuts its target to ribbons. Noire flips over their weapons intersection and swings her heel towards Yellow Heart-clone. But with its other gauntlet, the clone was able to block it. Noire swings her sword…

*CLASH!*

The impact caused the Yellow Heart-clone's block to break. Her arms are spread wide open.

" 'HAAAAAAAAAAH!' "

*BAM!*

Blanc dives in from behind Noire. She swings her axe over on the Yellow Heart-clone. The clone jumps away in the nick of time. Blanc hits the asphalt just like her clone does causing dust cloud and chunks of rocks flying about. Having a general idea where her target is, Blanc grips her fist tightly and swings it to an unsuspected rock.

*BAM!*

The rock comes flying from the dust cloud and is racing towards the Yellow Heart-clone.

*BAM!*

"…"

White Heart-clone swung her axe, splitting the giant rock into two.

" 'YAAAAAAA!' "

"…!"

But coming in between it, is a golden yellow claw flying its way towards White Heart-clone. The clone can't recover in time since its large swing at the rock earlier.

*CLASH!*

"…"

" 'Eh…!?' "

Green Heart-clone comes intercepts, pushing the White Heart-clone aside. With the tip of its spear blocking the golden-yellow claw, Green-Heart clone draws a circle, parrying the claw to the side.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

Vert takes a step forward and thrust her spear towards her in blinding speed.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

Peashy crosses her arms in front of her, unable to catch spear that thrusting at her in blinding speed.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

Green Heart-clone continues pressuring. With each hard thrust of her spar, Peashy steps back.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* - *CLASH!*

That last hit sent her arms flying upwards leaving her open just like her clone was awhile ago. White Heart-clone comes from the side unsuspectedly. Peashy tries to get away but the shock from earlier isn't coming off anytime soon.

"…!"

" 'Hmhmm…! I got you' "

Wrapped around White Heart-clone's waist is a signature whip-sword. The madam swings her arm upward jerking the clone upwards as well. The madam swings her around, like a child not knowing how to play with a yoyo properly therefore swinging it around like some rodeo cowboy. The Madam swings her hand back down, sending the clone back on the ground.

*BAM!*

The clone hits the ground hard that there's a slight imprint of its figure on the asphalt. The wrap of the whip sword becomes is undone…

*BANG!*

Neptune launches herself towards the clone while she's defenseless. But being a clone of Blanc, she was tougher, or even more, than she looks. The clone barely recovers and holds up its axe to defend against Neptune's sword swing.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!*

Neptune strikes again after her initial strike. White Heart-clone still has its defenses up. Neptune drops the tip of her sword to the ground and swings it upward.

*CLASH!*

This caused it to open its defenses again. Neptune swings its sword down on it.

*CLAP!*

But White Heart-clone claps her hands stopping the blade from cutting her in half. Neptune pushes her sword down still, driving her opponent back on the ground. The force of which bounces her off the ground again.

" 'Nepgear!' "

" 'Let's go Sis!' "

Nepgear takes her position, sandwiching the clone White Heart, trying to recover from the shock of its back hitting the ground again. They both swing their weapons…

*CLASH!* *CLASH!*

The clone summons another axe and blocks both attacks that is coming from opposite sides.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!*

Both of them lowered their weapons and swung it at the clone. Sending both her arms upwards.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!*

Then, both of them jumps and raised their weapons high as they go and swings it back down.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!*

The impact of which forces the clone to come straight down back on the ruined asphalt with both feet taking the full impact of the land. Numbing pain is sent like electricity.

Both of them land quickly and swiftly takes a stance with the tips of their blade point at a single helpless target.

*BANG!*

They lunge themselves towards the clone. The clone looks everywhere she could see, finding a way to get out of this sticky situation. The sisters are getting closer, their blades seeking the enemy in front of them. The tips are closing in fast and the clone hasn't thought of anything to do yet…

*CLASH!*

" 'What!?' "

" '…!' "

They quickly back off before momentum drives them into one another.

" 'She disappeared, Sis…' "

" 'Just like last time…' "

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

On another side of the battlefield are the original Vert and the Green Heart-clone are both thrusting at each other. Each missing by only a few centimeters.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*-*CLASH!*

That last hit causes her to be pushed back. She uses that distance to catch her breath but…

" '…!' " Yellow Heart-clone didn't even gave her time to breathe.

*BAM!*

"…!"

" 'I've been saved again…' " in the nick of time, the Madam pulled Vert away causing for Yellow Heart-clone to hit the ground.

" 'If you're that worried, then go finish this or do you want me to punish you myself, I'd prefer the latter of course' "

" 'Then I'd better do my best… Hya!' " Vert flies down going to assist.

*BANG!*

Noire engages a target of opportunity, that'd be Yellow Heart-clone. Yellow-Heart clone turns, steps and then swings her golden claws at Noire. Noire ducks under it and pushes herself off the ground a little bit more. With the clone's free hand it pushes its golden-claw towards Noire.

"…!"

" 'Too slow…!' "

Noire had just spun to the side, and using the circular force of her spin she swings her sword the clone's neck. The clone leans back and avoiding it.

" 'Better watch your feet…!' "

Vert slipped behind her and is now performing a sweep kick under Yellow Heart-clone. The kick connects, and the clone losses its balance to the side.

" 'Hyaaa!' "

*CLASH!*

Noire reversed the hold of her sword and swings it upwards as she launches herself upwards. The clone blocks but it is still caught up in Noire upper cut swing, sending her upward.

Noire then grabs one of the gauntlets, uses it to stop her inertia and change the direction of her force. She twists her body, and swings her weapon.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

Like a top, she spins around swinging her sword, the gauntlet on the clone is slowly having chunks of its material flying about. A sign that it's almost about to break.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*-*CLASH!*

That last hit, unexpectedly a foot has rushed towards the clone's face. By instinct, the clone was able to fend off the sudden change of attack. Using it as a foothold, Noire twists, and swings her foot towards the clone-s chest, performing a back kick.

"…!"

The clone was pushed back.

*BANG!*

" 'We're not done yet…!' "

*CLASH!* *SWING!*

Vert suddenly appears in front of her. She attacks with the butt of her weapon making her block on one side of her head. Then swings the blade towards the clone's head, the clone leans back avoiding it by mere inches. Vert recovers from her swing and miss, takes a stance, then lunges herself towards the clone. The clone shields herself with her gauntlet…

*CLASH!*

Vert passed the clone from the attack, leaving Yellow Heart-clone's gauntlets breaking down. She stops her momentum and turns to attack the clone from behind. Yellow Heart-clone turns to fend off the attack.

*CLASH!*

One of the gauntlets broke down, Vert takes the initiative and swings her leg at the clone's head. It ducks under. Taking a page from Noire's earlier moves, she uses the circular force of her spin and strikes her spear towards it. The clone raises its other gauntlet…

*CLASH!*

The last gauntlet breaks down, leaving the clone wide open for a fatal hit. Vert didn't waste time, elevates a little above the clone and raises her spear above her.

" 'You're done!' " Vert swings her spear down…

*SWING!*

" 'What, she's gone…!? Tch' " Vert clicked her tongue.

*CLASH!*

" 'Gh…! You…!' "

Blanc had just been pushed back. White Heart-clone steps forward to her original and swings her axe to her original.

" 'Bad girls are bad!' " Peashy jumps in and blocks White Heart-clone's axe.

*CLASH!*

Peashy drive the axe towards the ground and with her other claw, swings it towards the clone.

*CLASH!*

The clone used the handle of her axe to block Peashy's attack. Peashy swings in another with her other hand.

"…!" the clone ducks under and steps back to take a stance.

" 'Hrmm…!' " Peashy also takes a stance.

" 'Yaaaaaaaah!' "

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

Peashy swings her claws at the clone. Golden-yellow after images fills the tornado of fast attacks.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

White Heart-clone is able to keep up with the blinding speed of Peashy's attacks. The giant axe moves smoothly in front of her, fending the attacks with ease.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

Peashy concentrates on hitting above, increasing her speed of attacks with swing of her fist. Slowly, the clone is stepping back from the relentless pressure.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* - *CLASH!*

Suddenly, Peashy attacks below. The clone was too concentrated on blocking the attacks from above that attacking suddenly from below caused it to break her concentration even for just a moment. The clone tries to block it with the handle of its axe.

*CLASH!*

The claw connects, and her arms are high up in the air trying to grip the axe as best as it could.

" 'Horyaaaah!' "

"…!"

From behind White Heart-clone is her original racing dangerously close already. Blanc sweep kick the clone causing her balance to be thrown off. Blanc swings her sword axe upward as she jumps, the clone blocked but her strength is slowly fading, most probably from the barrage that it endured with Peashy.

*CLASH!*

The upward movement causes her axe to be raised over her head. She brings down her axe as she flies down. Driving herself down on the ground first before her clone does.

*CLASH!*

The moment Blanc lands on the ground, she twists and swings her axe with one hand diagonally upward as her clone comes down to the ground. The clone sees the oncoming attack and blocks it her own axe.

*CLASH!*

The attack suddenly sends electricity from the clone's hand. Her grip suddenly came loose and her axe flies somewhere that she can't retrieve. Also, the attack gets her thrown away uncontrollably, towards a sneering dominatrix.

" 'Aha! I might enjoy punishing Blanc even if this one's fake' " the Madam said with a smile on her face. A smile that sends shivers.

With her whip-sword she catches and wrapped it on White Heart-clone's waist. Then, she raised her arm up, suddenly jerking her prey up high in the sky. The madam sneered once more, and brings her arm down in a sudden jerk.

" 'Aha!' "

*BAM!*

The clone hits the asphalt ground hard, the clone's entire body is numb from shock. Then the madam swings her arm over her head, swinging around the near lifeless body of White Heart-clone. The madam swings lowers her swings and drags her around the asphalt like some broken toy.

*BRRRRRRRRRR!* *BAM!* *BRRRRRRRR!*

The clone hits one of the buildings. The clone's body is out of her control and its vision is all over the place, unable to make out which is up and which is down. The madam isn't done with her punishment, and pulls the clone out of there.

*CRACK!*

She cracks her whip-sword and throws the clone to a top of a building opposite of it.

*BAM!*

The clone bounces off of it. Its mouth wide open, and blood spilling from it. The Madam, with no shred of mercy, catches the clone with her whip again and throws her back on the ground.

*BAM!*

The impact was more of an explosion. A huge cloud of smoke envelops from where she was thrown to. The Madam retracts her whip-sword signaling the end of the battle.

" 'H-Hey, I think you over did it a little…' " Blanc said, following up behind her.

" 'Hrm? But it was punishment for trying to hit me earlier' "

" 'St-still…' "

" 'Aah, maybe you want me to do it to the _real _Blanc. It's fine for me too' "

" 'Please don't' " feeling dread, Blanc instantly backs off.

" 'Still…' " the smoke from where the clone hit the ground slowly trails off into the wind.

" '…it's a shame that I didn't get to see what its expression looked like…' " the clone was gone from where she should've been.

" 'Hey! Are you done fighting? Let's go already!' " Noire said, urging them.

" 'Hrmm! Having Noire being all pushy doesn't sound too bad' "

" 'We need to go or that robot freak is going to do something to other me's!' "

" 'I don't think you should worry about that, Noire…' " Nepgear sighed.

" 'Either way, we can get closer to whatever is going on here' " Neptune said.

" 'I agree. Now, let's make haste!' " Vert said.

And the group moves on.


	148. Chapter 148

Chapter 148:

"Hello~~! Anyone home~~!" Neptune called.

"Hello~~!" Plutia does the same.

"I'm even going to bother to tell you to stop…" Noire sighed.

"…It's a rarity to see that you stop talking" Blanc said.

"I know I always talk too much but don't say it in front of my face" her annoyance is rising.

"My, aren't you self-aware" Vert comments.

"Lonely people are more conscious to themselves than normal you know!" Neptune said.

"I… told… you…!"

"G-goodness! There's flames behind Noire!"

"Uwaah! I see it too!" Peashy exclaims.

Having arrived at the old Basilicom of the former Eden's second floor, the group proceeds to do their usual antics while walking down the empty hallway. Of course they do know what they came here to do, but they can't help themselves from doing it. In the words of our main character, it'd make the audience seated to read some more.

"You know, this place is so quiet that I can hear Plutia's heartbeat"

"Uwaah! Neppy that's so cool!"

"…I don't think you can hear another's heartbeat just from being too quiet" Blanc said.

"So what can you hear when it's quiet?" Nepgear asked.

"…The clock, maybe…"

"What a boring life you live" Vert comments.

"…I'm sorry for having one then…"

"Meh, whenever it's just me and Jared we always do some silly…! I've got a Nepping idea!" Neptune hammers her palm.

"I want to dismiss it but fine I'll hear it out…" Noire said.

"…You just want to hear it out since it involves him" Blanc casually adds.

"That's not it!"

"I'll ask riddles!"

"Haa? Riddles?" Noire is baffled.

"Ribles?" Peashy mistakenly said.

"No Peashy, Riddles. Ri-ddles" Vert corrected her.

"Why would we be doing riddles, Sis?"

"Well, whenever Jared and I are alone together we always get to play some games. And riddles is one of them" Neptune answered her little sister cheerfully.

"…Sounds interesting. I'm joining" Blanc said, with

"Umm… I'm not really good with riddles..." Plutia said.

"Oh come on! It'll be easy peasy!"

"Okay…" Plutia agreed almost instantly.

"You know, we are in an enemy base…"

"Okay, let's start the riddle contest part 2! Since we've done that last time!" ignoring Noire, Neptune commenced.

"Listen to me!"

"Okay, ehem! If you throw me from the window, I will leave a grieving wife. Bring me back, but in the door, and you'll see someone giving life. What am I?"

"…Wow, that's a hard one she pulled out" Blanc said astonished.

"Did you learn this from Big Brother, Sis?"

"Mhm! We always play some games whenever we have nothing to do!" Neptune confesses cheerily.

"Now! If you can answer it, I'll give you my pudding later!"

"Hrmm…"

"Hrmm…"

"Umm…?"

"Ahaha! Everyone has serious funny faces!"

Everyone thinks long and hard for the answer while they were walking. Of course, no answer comes up. Blanc is flabbergasted at how the riddle is much more difficult. Knowing Neptune, she should know some common-knowledge riddles that'd be easy to answer. She never expected this kind.

"This is a difficult riddle indeed, ever encountered one Blanc?" Vert gives up.

"...I've never encountered like this one before" Blanc indirectly praised.

"It's probably some random question that she just spouted and doesn't know the answer" Noire said.

"Mmm! My head hurts…" Plutia said.

"Ahaha! Ploot thinking face is funny!"

"That's so mean…!"

"So anyway, since we didn't answer, what's the answer?" Noire said. Eager to know the answer even though she doesn't show it.

"It's the letter 'N'"

"Haa?" everyone, except for Plutia and Peashy, reacted.

"…Oh, I see. It's more of wordplay rather than an actual riddle" Blanc gets it.

"What does she mean?" Vert implores.

"…The first line said: 'If you throw me from the window, I will leave a grieving wife'. A grieving wife means she's a widow. If you 'throw' 'n' from window that leaves the word widow"

"I see…" Nepgear said.

"Then, for the second line?" Noire asked.

"'Bring me back, but in the door, and you'll see someone giving life'" Vert repeated the second line.

"…If you put the letter 'n' in 'door', you'll get the word donor. And a donor is…"

"Someone who's giving life… Wow…" Nepgear is surprised.

"See, as the main character, I'm so cool that I can make everyone give up and beg me the answer" Neptune proudly said.

"…Even though you learned it from Jared" Blanc said harshly.

"Don't mind the little stuff! Here's comes the next riddle!" Neptune announced. A determined look on their faces, especially Noire, are shown on the four. The other 2 are just skipping along behind enjoying this little game from the sidelines.

"There was a shop that says: 'buy 1 for 1 credit, buy 10 for 10 credits, and buy 100 for 100 credits'. Jared, went in and bought a 300 with 3 credits. How'd he do it?"

"Why did you include Big Brother in it?" Nepgear asked.

"But it did happen during one of our dates. He was like 'Wow if I buy 300 it's awfully cheap…' Even the main character, me, didn't get it when he told me how he did it…"

"Hrm…" Noire is thinking hard.

"Blanc…?"

"…No ideas on my end, Vert…"

"I don't have anything either…"

"…Okay. Neptune we give…" Blanc announced.

"Okay! The answer is really easy! What the shop is selling is the number of digits of a number!"

"Haa?" the four cocks their heads in sync.

"Nepu! All four of you did the natural cock-siding 'I don't get what you said' thing at the same time!" Neptune is surprised for a different reason.

"Never mind that, tell us why?" Noire said.

"Ooh! Noire's really a tsundere and all that…"

"No I'm not! Just tell us already geez!"

"But even if Noire is an eager beaver, I can't really tell you anymore than my pudding loving brain"

"…Never mind here, the next one, we'll be sure to answer it now" Blanc is really confident.

"Okay! Last one, and I'll bet my puddings that you get it"

"Oh we will.." Vert is daring.

"A smooth dance, a ball sport, a place to stay, a name of a country in a game, and a girl's a name. What's the name of the girl?"

"...It looks like you just pulled that one right out of the bat"

"How mean. Jared told me that riddle"

"…Fine. But with that kind of question I can't even answer it"

"Oh, I know. The name of the girl is Vert, right?"

"…Haa?"

"I mean, I know how to dance and I know a lot of ball sports and a place to stay. I also have a country. It's got be Vert"

"…How self-centered are you?"

"BE-BEEP! WRONG ANSWER!" Neptune tries to imitate the buzzer in a game show.

"I know. I just wanted to make a joke out of it"

"So, um, Sis. What's the answer to the riddle?"

"It's Juliet!"

"Juliet?"

"You know, those military calls. Like Alpha, Beta, Zulu, Pudding..."

"…I think that pudding should be Papa" Blanc corrected.

"So, it's just military call-outs?" Noire asked.

"Mhm! I think it goes from…Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel, India and Juliet! I don't know why he said Julia though…" Neptune adds.

"Wow… Big Brother has a really deep mind to think all those kinds of riddles" Nepgear said.

"…I think I might these riddles to my book…" Blanc said.

"No one would buy them, so what's the point"

"You…! Do you want to have your head done in!?"

"Now, now…"

"Hey, Neppy! I think we're here!" Plutia calls out.

At the end of the hall, Plutia and Peashy are already ahead without the group ever realizing it. She's point towards another hall to the right. The group catches up, and looks to where she's pointing. There's double glass doors, which windows the inside of a dark large room with monitors turned on inside. There are also people there, but they can't make any faces out due to the angle and lighting from where the group the stands. But they all knew, this is where there objective is.

"Speaking of busting heads in, I'm in the mood for busting a certain creeper's head in!" Noire said.

"Noire is really excited, huh?" Neptune whispered to Plutia.

"…Mhm! Mhm! She gets really flustered"

"I can hear you, you two…"

"Okay, let's get this over with" she declares as she moves ahead.


	149. Chapter 149

Chapter 149:

*BAM!*

"Come out you creeper!" busting open the door, Noire shouts.

"Hello there Noire…" I wave at her casually.

"…" she blinks once, then twice.

"What? It's like you've seen a ghost or something? Wait, I don't have something on my face right?" I check my face through the terminal's monitor. Still a good looking passerby.

"Nepu! What are you doing there you cheater!?" Neptune appears behind Noire, runs up and accused such thing. Well she would, given that the situation that I'm in right now.

"To answer your question I've been kidnapped by these clones" I said it plainly as though it was a part of common sense.

"Nepu! Then, all this time you've been doing it with these clones!" she's not listening to me.

"No. They're clones"

"Nepu! If they're not clones then you're going to do them!" she's playing with my words even though she's being really ridiculous on this.

"Hey! Don't just ignore me if you're talking about my clones!" Noire interjects. That was most likely a shriek.

"Whoa there, Missy! Don't just shout next to my Neppy ear!" Neptune flinches.

"Shh, indoor voices please…" Vert hushed.

"…Anyway, it's pretty hard to imagine that you're kidnapped" Blanc said.

"Really? I think I can get kidnapped every once in a while…" I said.

"I don't think anyone would believe you, since you're Big Brother and all" Nepgear said. She's a real believer, huh.

"C'mon, I'm not a guy that wears a funny red sheet on my back"

"In any case, where's that creeper?" Noire asked.

"Why? You excited to see him? Probably a little crush?"

"Mhmhm! Noire's heart go bump-bump!" Plutia said.

"And her face gets all red as well" Vert adds.

"No, I don't!" Noire denies strongly.

"They do say that the more you hate the more you love"

"…Another classic tsundere line" Blanc said.

"Dammit, just shut the hell up already!" she practically screamed. Any sane person would stop, but we didn't.

"Noire, you're using some naughty language…" Plutie pointed out. Her ears are probably bleeding.

"Noire, you're just like Blanc!" Peashy said.

"My, my. It must be awful for Peashy's upbringing, so please do not use such vile words" Vert said.

"…I'll do what I can" Blanc said.

"Hmph. Since Neptune and Plutia took her in, I bet this kid hasn't had a day of education" Noire hypothesized.

"Turning your poop deck cannons to us now, huh? It's cool, Jared and Nep Jr. has been her teacher" Neptune throws the ball to us.

"But no matter what, I can never get Peashy to listen… So I let Big Brother do all the teaching" and now the little sister passes the ball to me.

"I did my best to teach her proper manners" of course I had paid to off 10 headaches simultaneously just so she would listen to me when she was younger. Now, she just does whatever I tell her to.

"Heeeey…" Plutie called our attention.

"…What are we doing here again…?"

"Oh right, right. You're here to save me, so save me" I said.

"…But how can we save you?" Blanc asks getting into the role of being one of my saviors.

"First off, you can take care of these Noire-clones. They have a face of the stone Buddha and I can't make them do other facial expressions" they make the best poker players.

"Hehehe… Do I reaaaaally get to tease all of these Noires?" Plutie asked.

"Basically… yeah…" I stuttered.

"Huh? Plutia?" Nepgear became worried.

"Did you seriously want to tease Noire this badly?" Neptune asked.

"Nope, Noire is my friend…!"

"Huh? I feel like this news was delivered to me in the past once before…" Noire racks her brain trying to remember.

"But these Noires aren't my friends at all…" she points that fact out and glows…

" 'So I can do whatever I wish with their faces, right!?' "

"She specified faces…" she probably wants to break a nose or two with her heels.

"Thanks for that. Anyway, uh, how're you holding up right now, Noire? Really" Neptune interviews.

"R-Really? Well, um, it's a pretty complex feeling, but whatever. Just so they're gone!"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"I think these copies are getting serious…" though they still have their unchanging stone faces.

"Now then…" she glows…

" '…I'll let you know who's the real Black Heart!' "

" 'Hehe. Allow me to help you in this punishment lesson, Noire' "

*BANG!*

All four clones of Black Heart suddenly sprouts their wings and jump towards the girls. Noire sprouts her own wings and intercepts her own clones.

*CLASH!*

Noire attacks one her clones and pushes it towards the ceiling. The three follows from behind her.

" 'I'm going to have fun with you first!' " the madam swings her sword-whip on one of the clones, wraps it on its waist and pulls it down to the ground right in front of her.

*BAM!*

"…!"

" ''Ahahaha! He's right…! You really don't have any expressions' " the madam sneered. The clone struggles to get the wrap on its waist to come off but to now avail.

" 'Oh well, if I punish you enough maybe you'll be able to show me some expressions!' " the madam turned to her heel and walks off, dragging the clone away.

"And there she goes, will the clone be alright?" Neptune asks beside me. The rest of the girls just takes their desired seat and relaxes as though we're watching a 3D movie in its climax.

"I honestly don't know. What do you think Nepgear? I heard that you're one of the few that knows her wrath or something…" courtesy of your Big Sister.

"Please don't make me remember something so tragic…" she plead as she gets goosebumps.

"Whoah! I can't tell which is the real Noire!" Peashy is astonished.

"Let's play of game of guess. If you guess which is the real Noire then you get a prize" Vert spoils the child the games.

"Okay!"

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

To me though, I can tell who the real Noire is and who is not, not without overclocking my brain and see even the smallest of movements. The copies look more mechanical to look at than the original 99% of the time. And it's difficult to even see that 1% difference between the original and the fake.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!*

Noire swings her sword at one of her clones. The clone blocks the attack. From behind her, another clone had sneaked up behind and swings its sword at her.

*CLASH!*

Using the hilt of her weapon, Noire blocks the attack almost easily.

"…!"

But using this as opportunity, one of her clones is racing to swing at her. Seeing this, Noire suddenly drops her weapon and flies back a few, causing the two clones to stumble to each other. The third clone one dodges easily. As the clone is about to swing her sword, Noire flies up and dives down swings her weapon towards the clone.

" 'Hyaaah!' "

*CLASH!*

The clone successfully blocked it. Its sword shaking from how heavy the attack was.

" 'Yaaaaah!' "

Noire pushes her clone down towards the ground; the clone landing on both feet.

*BANG!*

She suddenly disappears in front of her opponent, and reappears behind it. Noire swings her weapon, and the clone doesn't have much time to guard the attack.

*CLASH!*

One of her clones blocks the attack right in the nick of time. She draws a circle parrying Noire's weapon. The clone that she had pushed towards the ground earlier, suddenly appears below her and is about to perform a huge uppercut swing. Noire bends backwards almost dodging that attack.

"…!"

Another clone comes from behind her and performs the same attack. She performs a backflip, avoiding it..

*CLASH!*

The clone suddenly turns and attacks. Luckily, she was able to block it. Landing on the ground, the clone suddenly turns to Noire about to swing its sword from its hip.

*BANG!* *CLASH!*

In almost an instant, the clone was able to pass her original leaving large sparks exploding suddenly on her sword. The clone suddenly dash in on her, engaging at her while she's stunned for a moment by the attack before their weapons dropping on her dangerously.

" '…' "

Noire suddenly let's her body loose, bending forward while releasing a little of her fatigue in her body. She moves forward and the clones lands behind her.

*BANG!*

She suddenly dashed to one of them as it was turning. The clone steps back, trying to maintain its spacing but Noire steps in and sweeps her leg. Causing the clone to rotate to the side and falls butt first on the floor.

"…!" Noire rverses the hold on her sword and raises it above her head, pointing the tip towards the clone.

" 'That's one…!' " she drops the tip towards her clone.

" 'Huh…!?' " but then, it disappeared.

" 'Where did that…!' "

*BANG!*

As she was about to start looking around one of the clones suddenly rushed to her. Noire's instincts kicked in and block the oncoming attack.

*CLASH!*

" 'Tch…!' "

Then above her is the other one about to drop down on her.

" 'Out my way…!' " she raised her foot and kicked the clone in front of her. She raised her sword above her.

*CLASH!* *SCHNNNNNNG!*

When the weapons collide, Noire tilts her own towards the ground sliding the clone's weapon down.

" 'Now!' "

She swings her leg near the handle of the clone's weapon, disarming it and kicking it away. She turns as she readies her sword, and thrust the sword from her hip.

" 'Yaaah! Again…!?' "

*CLASH!*

The other clone disappeared like the one before. It seems that before it meets its end, it suddenly disappears like someone pressed the 'delete' button. Or rather like a eject button for them. But onto the battle, the moment the clone disappeared, Noire is met with the last one.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

Fast string of attacks erupts. Sparks fly all over.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

Noire is being pushed back, dodging and blocking the tornado of attacks.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

In a moment, no, in a frame or so. Her eyes locked on an object behind her. I see… classy.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

" 'Here!' " she suddenly slips her hand behind her and places at front.

*SLASH!* *SLASH!* *SLASH!* *SLASH!*

"…!"

The clone later realized that she was cutting an office chair into ribbons. Because of the very few light sources around this room, it's hard to see that black generic chair. The clone looks around trying to find its target.

" 'Haaaa!' "

Noire throws her sword from the side right at the clone's face. The clone moves its head at the side.

" 'Got you' "

"…!"

Noire had suddenly appeared before the clone. She takes her sword in mid-flight, twists as her sword aims for the head. The clone steps back but at this clone of a range, the clone can't make it out alive. The blade inches closer to the neck, Noire's swing is an intent to kill.

*SWING!*


	150. Chapter 150

Chapter 150:

"Noire sucks!" the child said.

"Pfft!"

"…Agreed"

"Ahaha! Noire sucks so bad!"

"Sis…"

"She didn't even hit one of them once…"

"It's not my fault that I can't them…" Noire rebutted.

With the clones now gone and Noire back to her original form, we all said in synch how bad she is at fighting her own clones. I mean, she never even hit them, other than a few sword clashing. Given, it was a three on one, but not a single strand of hair were harmed.

"Um, didn't she hit them earlier…?" Nepgear asked.

"Hmm… The sweep kick? Oh right that is considered as a hit…"

"In fighting games crouch and kick is always effective" Vert adds.

"Yeah, that move is pretty annoying" I remember that Neptune always does that whenever we go one-on-one in Road Fighter. It's a momentum breaker than a game breaker.

"…Someone should actually how fighting games work"

"What's your suggestion Blanc?"

"…Flying kicks…"

"Flying kicks?"

"…It's their only move" that's pretty… well, stupid. Who'd fight and use flying kicks all the time.

"Isn't fighting games revolve around combos and such?" Neptune said.

"Neptune's right. The charm of fighting games is to use stylish combos" Vert supports.

"I think it's a great idea…"

"Huh? Big Brother?"

"But instead of flying kicks why not drop kicks?" I throw a suggestion.

"…Nah, it'd be easy to dodge and lookout for…" she shot it down.

"But flying kicks would be easy to dodge. With no other moves, it's hard to get a hit"

"…Then, what if it requires everyone to jump?"

"I see your point. Since it might hit the head or somewhere else… no maybe…!"

"…What?"

"…They'll kick at an angle… 45 degrees down…"

"…A dive kick!"

"Right-o!"

*CLAP*

We high fived, satisfied by that wonderful discussion on game concept.

"I don't know what happened…" Nepgear said.

"I think we just witnessed a game discussion about a new game" Vert said.

"Woooooow! I've never seen a game discussion in my life before!" Neptune happily said with sparkles glistening in her eyes.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but please don't talk as if I don't exist…"

"Oh Noire! You're still here?" Neptune shouldn't have said that. In a moment or two that woman is going to…!

"I was here the entire time!" …shriek like that… women these days.

"Hey, I'm back!" a cheery voice comes from the entrance. And a girl happily waving at us.

"Right on time Plutie!" Neptune said.

"Sorry, it took longer than I thought"

"What were you doing with that clone?" Nepgear asked.

"Ehe…" she answered with a smile. Brings shivers down on Nepgear's spine.

"…U-Uhm, sorry for asking!"

"BerBer, BerBer…"

"Yes, Peashy?"

"If Papa isn't here, then where's Mama?"

"Oh…"

"…" right. The child still doesn't know. I'll be the first to tell her after we get out of here. And I'd recover the body as well to bury afterwards.

"…Speaking of which, why is Jared here? He still hasn't answered that question" Blanc pointed out the elephant in the room. And no, I'm not getting fat.

"Well…"

* * *

"Random time skip alert!"

"Staying in that dark place is getting to me…"

We're walking down the abandoned hallway. 7 and a half pairs of footsteps echo silently. The window shows how nearly abandoned the city of Eden is. I say nearly, because there are some people still living here.

"Well where should I start…?" I think at the top of my head.

"Since we're dealing with clones now, I thought it was a good idea that I should visit this place first…" I stopped myself from saying Anonydeath's lair.

"Geez, I thought you said that you're going to tell me stuff before you leave!" Neptune complains.

"I did. I told you that I'd be leaving for something quick"

"And you didn't come back quick enough. We started the party without you!"

"Sorry. I'll make it up to you by offering you some pudding from me"

"You'd better be mister!"

"…Why this place though?"

"Just a hunch. Nothing too special"

"And what about that creeper?" Noire asked.

"You've been talking about Anonydeath for the past hour or so. What's the big deal?"

"She was invited by him…!" Plutie said.

"On a date!? So that's why! I can understand why he'd ditch her…"

"Who'd go on a date with that creeper?"

"Putting that topic Noire going on a date with the pink robot aside…"

"I told you…!"

"…I'll continue my explanation… ehem!" I clear my throat.

"I went here, got ambushed and got kidnapped… that's it"

"…That's anticlimactic" Blanc said.

"Sorry for that, but that's all that really happened"

"…I'm not saying anything against it"

"Really? That's a relief…"

"But, but…"

"Jaweed is duper strong!"

"…Mhm! What Peashy said. So how did he get kidnapped?" Plutie asked.

"…I'm sure it was because he wanted to get kidnapped" Blanc answered.

"No one wants to get kidnapped, Blanc…"

"…For normal folks…" so I'm not normal? I do poop what I eat and that's normal. If there's a guy or girl out there not able to do that then I don't what he or she is.

"Truth be told, I did find a person who's probably responsible for all the clones that we've fought so far"

"And we're heading there right now?" Nepgear asked.

"Actually, we're here…"

At the top of the emergency stairs that we've been climbing for the past minute or two, is a stainless steel door. A green emergency sign shines the dim staircase. A nervous silence echoes around us. Giving everyone a quick look, I step in towards the door and turn the knob. I slightly open the door and peek through the small gap, checking that there isn't anything that is worth noticing. I push open the door.

The sky is halved between the setting sun and the looming night. The sun is about to set on the horizon in front of us. The mistress moon is rising behind us. The setting shadows over the nearly abandoned ghost city called Eden. In the rooftop of the Basilicom of Eden, I watch a figure on top of the fence look down on us.

"Rei…"

"Oh, it's Mama! Mama!" the child waves her hand at her.

"LATE" the woman shouts her distaste.

"Yikes! M-Mama?" Peashy steps back frightened.

"You there! How dare you raise your voice to a child like that!" Vert shouts back.

"I feel bad for Peashy…" Plutie said.

"Silence! To think that you lowly CPUs would keep _me _waiting!" well, sorry. This Basilicom isn't a good place to traverse without a map.

"…She's just pissing herself at this point" Blanc said.

"Goes to show that you can't keep a woman waiting as they say"

"Sis, wasn't this woman in our world, as well?"

"Yeah, but it's kinda wacky to me. I mean, was she really like this?" Neptune asked. Most probably not though, it must because of unwanted pride in her.

"Mama, are you mad at me?"

"I am _not _your mother. I've never dated a man, and I've certainly never given birth!"

"Did she just admit that she's an inexperienced woman?" I whispered to them, making sure that woman standing on top of a fence doesn't hear.

"…She just did"

"Ugh, I kind feel sorry for her now…" Nepgear adds.

"Stop treating me like your mother. Ugh, it was too late for me to get married anyway!"

"Wow, she also just admitted that she's getting old for man hunting…"

"Uh-oh! Mommy, don't you love me?" the child asks with tears to her 'mother'. You can't change a child's belief that easily.

"Hey! No making P-ko sad! You've gone too far, old lady!"

"Grrrr…!"

"…Have you been listening? She's just spouted nonsense this whole time" Blanc said.

"It's time you told us who you are and why you're doing this" Noire asked.

"Haaaa!? Do you think I'll tell you just because you asked? Or are you one of those children left behind?"

"Wh-Wh-WHAT!?" hrm?

"Ah, My oh my! Because I wasn't organized, these CPUs went and got all uppity…"

"Oh, I hate me! I'm so shocked right now…!"

"Wh-What's up with this woman?" Nepgear asked.

"Her sanity is getting low"

"This was your mother…?"

"Nope. My mama was very kind. She was always stuttering and apologizing, but she was nice"

"…I can't believe this psycho is the same person" Blanc said.

"Who's a psycho!? Everyone around me keeps saying that, but I'm correct! I embody propriety!" every psycho says that.

"You're all wrong! This whole world is wrong!"

"The testimony of a soon-to-be crazy cat continues" Neptune comments.

"There's no need to try and make jokes at a time like this" Noire said.

"But she's nuttier than a peanut butter! She's a full-blown padded room, white jacket nutjob!"

"I don't understand what she just said, can you translate that for me Nepgear?"

"Sorry, I only understood half of it…"

"I just have such a stroooooooong sense of responsibility. I need to finish this myself" really? Then go and finish it.

"But here you are, keeping me waiting with your slowness and your lollygagging!"

"…Oh. She means that she lured us out here" Blanc concludes.

"Merely to rant at us? What a silly reason. She made Peashy cry, too" Vert said.

"Uh, Mama…"

"No more talking… That was reason enough" Plutie transforms again.

" 'A woman who makes children cry has no right to act so haughty!' "

"Waaah! Plutia changed without warning again…!" Nepgear said, surprised.

"But Sadie might actually stand a chance against this weird psychoelectric girl" Her Big Sister might be right.

"Your low-class whore personality makes its debut, I see. This is why CPUs are vulgar whelps" low-class whore. So you're a better whore than her?

" 'Oh, so you plan to torture me with your sharp words? I'd rather be praised than insulted' "

"I have a feeling things are gonna get out of hand really fast. Let's go!" Noire transforms.

" 'But I'll pass on taking point. Neptune, transform and manage the situation, would you?' " Noire passed the ball over to my fiancée.

"Aww, that's lame! Pretty sneaky, Noire! Jared!"

"Sorry, you're on your own on this one…" I step back.

"Oh, another shamelessly dressed Costume Playdate Unit!" strictly speaking, almost all of her fans wants to have a playdate with her.

"Praising people like you as CPUs was a mistake from the start. As I thought, you're all wrong!"

" 'So she says. Vert, how do you feel about these accusations?' " the madam asked.

"Why throw the spotlight over to me? I'm quite upset, you know!" Vert glows…

" 'There is nothing the matter with how I choose to display my wonderful, curvy figure!' " …and answered the question.

" 'I imagine someone of your age couldn't pull this look off, anyhow. Don't be jealous' "

"…You're at the upper end of that age bracket too, y'know" Blanc says the reality.

" 'Did you say something?' " something cold crawls over on the rest of us.

"…Not a word. Anyway…" Blanc joins in…

" 'Words ain't gonna work, so all we can do is smack this bitch up a bit!' "

"Smack me up? No, I don't even know what that means. Is it a joke? That's quite terrible!" her sarcasm is almost endless.

"There's no way I will be defeated by mere CPUs!"

" 'That mouth sure get a lot of exercise. I wonder how it shrieks, sobs, and begs… Hmhmhmm. I'm so looking forward to finding out…' "

"Aww, everyone's just saying whatever cool lines they want. How am I gonna lead the scene?" Neptune is having trouble on her role as main character.

"Um, maybe we should transform? She does seem rather strong…" Nepgear said.

"Ugh, maybe I'm too anxious, but when I transform, I get all serious-class-president-like!" so she's self-conscious about it.

"Nah, I don't mind"

"Aww, but if I end up taking charge, I'll do exactly what Noire bossed me to do…"

"Quite a dilemma…"

"I'm not sure what's happening, but I'm transforming. My personality stays the same anyway…" aww, that's no shame Nepgear.

"Don't be so depressing, Sis! Fine, I'll join you" the sisters transforms.

"Thinking it over, if we make it so she can't speak at all, our problems will be solved"

"Sis, I don't think that's a 'class president' response"

"And I also think that you just spouted that out for the sake of saying something cool"

"Hahaha! Wonderful! Things are getting so lively. I'll remove you from this world all at once!" she's sounding cheery.

"Or perhaps one at a time… Oh, I can't choose! Both ways have their perks"

" 'She's been rambling for about 101 lines of dialogue now' " she hasn't. It's just 17 lines.

" 'Who cares? If she won't listen to us, we don't have to hold back' " Noire said, summing her weapon.

" 'Fair enough. I've grown tired of this pathetic tramp. Shall we…?' " the madam beckons us all in this dance.

" 'Ploot! Ploot!' " Peashy runs up to the madam fearlessly.

" 'Hmm? Peashy, you're free to transform as well, you know' "

"Are you gonna torture Mama?"

" 'P-ko…' " Neptune feels sorry.

" 'Not at all. You get a whack on the head when you're bad too, don't you? By Neppy and Jarey and Iffy' "

"Uh-huh. I get whacked. Then I apologize"

" 'This is the same thing. Mommy needs to be punished when she's a bad girl, too' " that's pretty reasonable.

" 'She needs to get knocked down onto her knees and beg for forgiveness. Is that so wrong?' " I take that back. She corrupting our problem child.

" 'Plutie… You sound worse and worse with every scene…' " Neptune said.

"You'll knock Mama onto her knees?" See!? See!?

" 'Peashy, no! Don't take her comments in that direction! It's a trap!' " Nepgear warns the child.

" 'Let's not teach her anything she's too young to learn!' " Vert said.

" 'You can make her fall, can't you, Peashy? You're strong, aren't you?' "

"…Yeah. I can. I can do it!" with determination burning within her, she transforms.

" 'I'll make mama fall down onto her hands and knees and all that other stuff!' "

" 'You're just saying all the wrong things, P-ko…' "

"It's actually more comical to hear when it's coming from her…"

" 'You mustn't speak with such vulgarity!' " Vert advises.

" 'I guess this is one style of parenting' " I don't think it's called parenting anymore Noire.

" 'More like training' " that's the word I'm looking for, Blanc.

"You're all going to keep talking without me!? I hate that, but I'll forgive you, since I'm nice" thanks.

"As your final mark of idiocy on this world, ramble on and on"

" 'I don't dislike strong-willed women, but you're taking far and it's annoying' " the madam readies her whip-sword.

" 'Mama, we're gonna bop you on the head and make you apologize!' "

"Oh, I take it back. You're saying things that are beyond stupid. I can't take it anymore"

"Allow me to remove you from Gamindustri with all my might this very instant! Ugh… Guuh…!"

Then a strong wind blows from behind us. Like a giant fan had suddenly been switched on with the wind strong enough to pick us off the ground. As though it was on cue, an earthquake erupts. Strong enough to sway the Basilicom left and right. Dark clouds forms above us with thunder roaring overhead.

"Hyaaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!" a laugh echoes loudly.

"I'll show you… what true power is…!"

*BANG!*

Dark black lightning shoots down from the sky hitting Rei. The force was enough to blow us all away. The fence below were suddenly blown away. The cement under our feet has a long crack that leads from where she was standing spread all over the roof. The lighting recedes quickly as it came. Smoke screens of whatever happens with Rei.

And a silhouette is forming from the screen…

" 'Hahahaahahahahahahahahahahaha! Take a good hard look…!' "

" 'N-no way…!' "

" 'Impossible…' "

" 'She's…!' "

"Looks like I'll be getting a good workout tonight!" a sword appears before me and I catch it before it falls.

" 'DIE!' "

*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*


	151. Chapter 151

Chapter 151:

" 'You're a CPU too…!' "

" 'Hahahahahahahahahaha! What's the look, huh!? Seen a ghost? I went out of my way to show you this wonderful power of mine and this is what I get? Haa… You can't appreciate everyone they say…' "

Her goddess form is reminiscent of her original form, having the same long heather blue hair but becomes slightly more sky-blue as it goes down. Her eyes are a bright diamond blue and the hair accessory that she wears on her head in human form becomes doubled, now appearing on both sides. Her glasses are gone and the general look of her outfit remains but in a bodysuit form, exposing her greatly enlarged chest, and the top some of her thighs, starting a little over where the torso begins and little over the middle of her thigh. The outfit itself is still primarily black and with white sections much like her human form. She has a staff on her hand.

" 'Done appreciating my form? Can I kill you off now?' " this woman can read minds.

She swings her staff once then something opens up in the space before her. As though someone had cut across a screen in the middle, it shows us a glimpse of small dots twinkling in a dark background. From it a giant black orb with orange dots at the center comes out from the tear that she made, racing towards us at blistering speed. My instincts are throwing warning signs at me...

"Neptune!"

" 'Right!' " Neptune flies towards me and grabs my free hand. She lifts me up and flies away.

" 'Hey, don't just leave us down here' " Noire complains and follows us.

The rest follows us into the sky avoiding the danger that is about to happen. The orb hits the rooftop and...

*BAM!* *GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!* *BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!*

" 'Wha-What is that thing!?' "

" 'Whatever it is, it's sucking us in!?' " Blanc answered Nepgear's question.

The moment it hits roof, it suddenly expands and everything in our body is getting pulled towards it. The air, the rocks, the poles on the side of the street are all being pulled in like some just opened up the large vacuum cleaner; and we're the dirt.

" 'Ah... ah... Now, no one is even paying attention to me... Geez, is it really that hard to stay focused on me...!' "

*BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!*

"Shit!"

Balls of fire suddenly shoots out from her staff. My cussing forced everyone to scramble dodging the attack.

" 'If you want some attention...!' "

" 'Our weapons will give you some...!' "

*BANG!*

Noire and Blanc flies first towards our opponent. Rei just stands giving a viscous smile at them. The two of them suddenly splits apart and flies in on Rei's blind spots; Noire above the head and Blanc on the side.

*CLASH!*

" 'What!?' "

" 'A barrier!?' "

I can't see the outline of the barrier that they speak off, but I can see that their weapons can go any further beyond a certain point.

" 'What!? You think I'm stupid enough to take the two of you in, you idiots!?' "

*BAM!*

" 'Kh...!' "

" 'Gh!' "

The two of them were suddenly pushed back by a strong force. They regained control of their flight and regrouped with us.

"How was it?" I ask.

" 'I don't know what to say' "

" 'That barrier of hers is strong...' " any thing, shape or from that can survive against Blanc's axe is definitely strong. No exceptions.

" 'Do you have anything in mind?' " Neptune asked.

"I do have a vague idea of what I want to happen. But for now, let's just open her up" I said.

" 'Open her up you say. What part of her do you want to open up?' " the madam asked.

"Of course her defenses"

" 'Ch. You're no fun' "

"If I go along with you, this woman of mine is going to drop me right here. I don't want to die"

" 'Hrm. She does have that side of hers' "

"And it's cute. Even though it's also scary at the same time"

" 'I feel like you two are ganging up on me' " Neptune said.

" 'Ah, Um... Big Brother. I don't think we should ignore her for too long...' " Nepgear reminded.

" 'Finally, someone understands me…!' " Rei sarcastically said.

Suddenly small black disc shape objects appear in front of her. There are 4 of them. It's facing towards us imploring us to stare at the abyss.

*CHNG!* *CHNG!* *CHNG!* *CHNG!*

Then I can hear the sounds of chains being pulled. Their clinging and clanging are getting louder and louder. Looking with my eyes where their coming from, I determined that the only place it can possibly come from is those black disc objects floating around her.

" 'Go and get them…!' "

*CHNG!* *CHNG!* *CHNG!* *CHNG!*

"Scramble!"

A head of a snake. No. A metal skull of a snake with chains as its body races from the black discs towards us like predator to its prey. Neptune flies up and sharply turns her velocity towards Rei. One of the snakes chases us with its mouth wide open.

" 'Jared!' "

"I know!" exchanging brief messages to each other, Neptune throws me towards Rei.

*CLASH!*

I hear a sharp clash of metal behind me. She must have blocked the snake from coming closer. I grip my sword tightly and swing the sword at my target.

*CLASH!*

"Wow, it is hard…" I said. My sword just stops 2 feet before it hits her head.

" 'You think that a tiny weapon like that can even scratch me?' "

"It might. Wanna bet?" I kick off from her barrier above her and something fly pass me.

*BANG!* *CLASH!*

" 'Gh! That caught me off guard…' "

" 'Not even a my multiple beam launcher can hit her…' " Nepgear said.

"Hrm…"

Allow me to explain briefly. Nepgear fired off her weapon in full force. Neptune catches me in the air before I fall. The beam wasn't very effective on Rei's invisible barrier. But she did flinch a bit and also… so that means…

" 'I've had enough running around! Let's go Vert!' " Blanc charges, evading the coils of the metal head snake on a chain.

" 'Agreed! Hyaah!' " Vert throw her spear at Rei. Using one of the chains, Blanc puts her foot down and twists her body for a more devastating blow.

" 'Hurryaaaahhh!' "

*CLASH!*

But weapon is stopped unexpectedly by an unknown force.

" 'What do you girls have for brains? Beans? You can't touch me!' "

Blanc ignored her and looks at the spear racing behind her. With her in the way, Rei can't see what's behind the person behind her. Blanc lifts her leg up, kicking the spear suddenly up and over them.

*BANG!*

" 'I suggest you don't talk too much…' "

" '…!' "

Up above, Vert manages to get above them and rearms herself with the spear that she threw. She raises the weapon and thrusts it.

*CLASH!*

" 'Surprise, surprise. Why can't you learn...!' "

" 'Out of our way!' "

*BANG!* *BANG!*

The two suddenly dispersed is now replaced by 2 beings dropping above them in break neck speed.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!*

A silver weapon and a golden yellow claw; Noire and Peashy strikes heavily from above. It's so strong that you can even feel the reverberations from here. The two regains control of their flight and flies around her getting ready for another pass.

" 'You shits!' "

*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*

From her staff, a mass array of fireballs comes shooting out, targeting the two that are flying around her. The two takes evasive maneuvers, missing all of Rei's shots. The sharply turn towards her and flies towards her again.

*BANG!* *BANG!*

*CLASH!* *CLASH!*

" 'Gh…!' "

Their weapons didn't hit her directly it was still being deflected by that barrier of hers.

" 'Don't forget about me…' " the madam swings her whip-sword at her.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

" 'Heh, I told you can't break this barrier you bitch!' "

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

Without letting even the slightest bit of chance for her to retaliate, the madam continues to crack her whip at her.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

The whip cracks at her barrier in every possible way imaginable. Not allowing a single moment to go.

" 'Kh! You're getting annoying! …Huh?' "

Suddenly, the madam stops swinging her whip is just smiling sinisterly, as though knowing that her prey will return to her.

" 'Multiple Beam Launcher! Fire!' "

" 'Gh…!' "

Nepgear fires off her gun-sword. A huge rainbow beam of light shoots out and races towards its target.

*BAM!*

The beam was deflected 2 feet away from its target. Rei's face isn't one of someone who had struggled to stop the beam. Her face is one of annoyance.

" 'Kh…! Can't you bitches ever learn…!' "

"You know, I noticed something…"

" 'What!? When did you…!' "

Using the barrier that she sets up on herself, Neptune and I stand 2 feet above her. I just got her after she just complained.

"…That you haven't moved an inch since you made this little annoyance…" with the tip of my feet, I tap her barrier.

" 'Kh! And? Huh?' " she notices it. A sudden rush of wind as though it was being pulled towards something. A slight shift in gravity. Her body naturally shifts towards it.

" 'That…!?' " she looks behind her. And there's a giant ball of black sitting there sucking everything that it can.

"And also, we can push you around…"

" 'You little?!' " she points her staff at us.

"Hey, think fast. I don't know what that thing is but if we don't get out of here I don't think it'll be any good…" pointing with my chin, we're slowly getting closer and closer to it.

" '…' " Neptune comes closer to me, I can feel the grip of her hand on my shirt.

" 'Hehehe…Hahahahahahahaha!' " she started laughing.

"Hm?"

" 'Do you think you can kill me with just cheap tricks like that!? Ahahahahahahahahahaha!' "

*BAM!*

"Fuck…!"

" 'Gh!' "

Suddenly, an unknown force pushes us both off her barrier that we've been using as a platform. Both of us are falling down. Chasing above us is Rei, her open freehand is covered in some black smoke of some sort. From what I learned against Arfoire in the other dimension, that isn't anything friendly.

"Neptune!" I called out to her.

" 'I know!' " she shouts back.

Grabbing my shirt, Neptune regains her control on her flight and flies down.

*BANG!*

" 'You're not getting away!' " she gives chase.

*BANG!*

Looking towards the ground, it seems Neptune is rushing to it. There's about 500 meters to the ground and the distance between us and Rie is about 200. Neptune boosts up her speed, our distance towards the ground is shortening at a rapid pace. 300… 200… 100… 50…!

*BANG!*

*BAM!*

" 'Kh!' "

Neptune turns sharply, flying low on the ground for a brief moment before she readjusts and flies up. Rei crashes towards the asphalt, smoke and dust covering where she lands. Neptune lets me go, allowing gravity to pull me down to the ground. I direct myself over to the smoke and raise my weapon.

"Let's go Neptune!"

" 'Right!' "

*BAM!*

Entering the smoke at 9.8 m/s/s, I see in the middle that sticking out like a sore thumb a blue head. I concentrate on that as I fall and swing my sword down.

*CLASH!*

" 'I see, you…!' "

My weapon just got blocked by her staff. She swings her staff down, driving my weapon to the ground. I pull back my sword and thrust at her. With her staff, she parries my sword. I swing twist my body and swing on the other side. Then I perform a double back at her, she steps back, avoiding the hits.

*BANG!*

Neptune flies towards the Rei in that moment. She raises her staff against her, as something glowing is getting charged up at the tip.

" 'Huh?' " suddenly Neptune disappeared in her field of vision. That glowing thing on the tip of her staff suddenly receded.

" 'Huryaaa!' "

" 'When did you…!' "

Neptune was crouching under her, her sword swinging upwards. Rei repositions her staff to block it.

*CLASH!*

" 'Tch!' "

The staff was thrown upwards, spinning away from its unarmed wielder. Her hand is probably numb from the shock.

" 'Your unarmed!' " Neptune strikes.

" 'I don't think so!' "

Her freehand emits something black. Rei takes a step forward and swings that hand towards her. Neptune doesn't pull her sword away and still goes ahead with her attack.

*CLASH!*

" 'Now _you're _unarmed!' " Neptune's weapon flies away from her helplessly.

" '…!' " Neptune moves her head to the side…

" 'Ha… kh…' " …and lets a pebble pass her, hitting Rei's forehead.

" 'Why you…!? Huh!?' "

"You really do need to shut up!"

" 'Agreed!' "

" 'Kh!' "

In the moment that she was stunned that a pebble hits her head. Neptune and I have already positioned ourselves so close to Rei that even flying away from us impossible. We're back to back, pushing our elbows towards her abdomen, specifically targeting her solar plexus. Rei tries to fly step back trying to add more distance, but our elbow strike would still reach her. A few more centimeters left, I can see her eyes are darting back and forth finding a way to get out of this situation.

"Now be a good girl…!" our elbows made contact, we push our bodies further in, adding more force to it.

"…and go to sleep!"

"Gahk…!"

Both elbows strikes deep on her solar plexus, literally blowing the air out of her. A pained look on her face, before she falls down unconscious.

"Hoo! What a workout! Or something, I expecting a bit more…" probably because she relied too much on her barrier.

" 'It's a good thing that we stopped her here' " Neptune said.

"Well, that's true… So, what should we do with her? Interrogate her? Or leave her?"

" 'It's your call…' "

"I'd just love to leave her here but…" I do have some questions answered. They have been bothering me since I read _that _back at Anonydeath's lab.

" 'You have some questions answered, right?' "

"Please stop reading my head" although I do like that about her.

"Right. Let's get regroup ourselves and carry her back home"

"Okay!" when did you untransformed?

"And also, I have a story to tell to keep us entertained while we get back"

It's a story of another victim of the world.


	152. Chapter 152

Chapter 152:

There was a time when the world is still unruly and the concept of nations were law-abiding citizens is a concept that is far out of reach. Although there were small communities, here and there, having their own rules and cultures to follow. The forests are teeming with monsters looking for something to eat. And unruly people, happens often than one might think.

But humans are beings that adapt to any environment. They were able to fend off the monsters that terrorized them, even if it were only temporary. They place power among themselves to better the small community that they have, and negotiate better with other communities. Trades are done in a formal manner, and territories are being respected and also being shared.

If we live in an ideal world then that sort of reality isn't too far off. But sadly, we live in a cruel one.

When ideals and beliefs contradict with others an outburst happen. Not all people can see eye to eye, and a simple discussion of ideals can lead to fights and wars. Actually, that was the reason why most wars happen. A fight of just ideals, how ironic.

There was a certain woman living in such times. One could say, at the very least, that she is very unlucky. Clumsy and always apologizing. If she does it one or two times, one would forgive her. But her, born with zero luck, always causes grief to her employers. Business was breakeven during this time, and so she always face being fired.

Her latest masterpiece was delivering some bread to the wrong address, and when she did try to hurriedly correct her mistake, the bread she was delivering was wrong too. She then returns to the bread store and packed the correct bread that she should deliver. But as she is delivering, she tripped on a rock and mud got to the bread. She returns to the bread shop where she was sacked once more for the x number of times.

This is a daily occurrence for her. Because of it, she was forced into poverty and begs for food.

"…"

*GRRRRRRRRR~~!*

"Oooh… I'm hungry…" she said, sitting under a tree of the forest. She knows the danger of the forest, but she wouldn't mind. She's gone this low after all.

"Ugh. Nobody will give me any food… and I can't get any by myself" when being a beggar causes her to be hungry even more, she tries to catch some fish or climb a tree for an apple. Unfortunately, her inexperience stands out.

"Maybe some food's fallen to the ground…" she looks at her surroundings blankly. Hoping for at least something to roll in front of her.

"Uggghhh… Why do I have to live like this?" she grieved over her misfortune, her head between her knees.

"Huh? What… is this?" on the ground that she is sitting on, there was something that is buried by the dirt. She brushed off the dirt aside, revealing a small gem with something engraved in the middle. A thousand different colors shine inside.

"It's shining…" she at wonder what this object is. A brilliant shine, almost divine. Despite being covered in dirt, it has no signs of scratches. Her retina sees colors sparkling inside it.

"Food? No, can't be…" she examines it. Although she knows that is thing isn't actually food.

*GRRRRRRRRR~!*

But her begging stomach for food won over her.

"Oh, who cares at this point!? My stomach needs _something_!" in one motion, she popped the object in her mouth.

*CRACK!*

"Huh!? Ow, my tooth!" a horrible cracking sound resonated in her ears. She spits it to her mouth.

"It's as solid as a rock… Ugh, why? Why does everything I do end up like this…?" she agonizes her misfortune.

"This can't just be some random shiny object…!" then, true to her suspicions, the candy like gem stared to glow magnanimously.

"What? It's starting to shine even brighter…Guh!" then it suddenly shoots itself towards her chest. And slowly pushes itself in.

"It…It's coming into my body!? E-E-EeeeeeeeeeH!?"

The gem object slowly pushes itself in. Its shine still indifferent impaling her vision. She feels no pain as the gem borrows itself inside her. Her ears started ringing a high screeching sound. Her balance started to go off, and she feels that her feet is being swept under. She tries to grab onto something but the world is slowly turning upside down.

* * *

"…" she wakes up.

"Huh? Heh!?" and sits up with a jerk.

"Huh?" she's surprised that she's still where she's at. Like never happened. She quickly feels for her chest but there was nothing she could feel that is out of the ordinary.

"What's… happening?"

"Fuu!? It's been a while since anything's happened… Huh? You…?" a voice of a child, a little girl's voice came from her side. She turns to see a small human with wings and is sitting on an open book…

"Hahaha! Another old one!" she laughs at her.

"Huh? HYKYAHHHHHHHH!" she screams without an inch of grace.

"Shit, don't scream like that without giving me fair warning, damn" the little thing covers her ears in pain.

"I-I-I'm so sorry! Who are you? A ghost? A spirit? Or maybe some kind of guardian angel?" the woman stares at the mysterious small human being.

"None of the above. I'm… Ugh, explaining all of this is a huge pain in the ass" the being said.

"Well, we'll be hanging out for a long time, so explanations will come later. Let's work together" the being beamed.

"Hanging out for a long time? I don't get this at all!" she screams.

This was the prologue of the first CPU.

* * *

"Um…"

"What?" the being asked, sitting on her head as though it were comfortable.

"How… much longer are you going to be around me…?" she asked the being, given that some a good amount of time has passed since earlier.

"Forever you dumbasss. I don't have a choice I got stuck with you"

"No choice, huh…? Why does it have to be me?" she questions her misfortune.

"Like I know. I wish I did"

Questions begins to flood her head and doubts are also mixed in it. Misfortune always follows her like a plague of sorts. She has more screw ups and more failures than any other human being. While others are able to rise from such failures, whenever she tries to, something pulls her down even further. So, this being saying something that she was chosen was…

"No way… There's no way I'd be chosen for anything…"

"Shit, I mean, if I got to pick, I would've gone with someone younger and more interesting"

"Th-there's nothing I can do about my age!"

"Hey, you!" a shout. The two alarmingly looked at the source of the shout. A big burley man wearing a tunic is before her, blocking her path.

"Heh. Walking all alone, totally defenseless… Give us all your stuff" another man said his piece from behind her. He looks thin, but he's dangling a knife in his hand, threatening her. She tries to escape to the side but is blocked by another guy making a grin on his face as though he found something delicious.

"E-Eeeeeh!? N-No way…!" fear began to well up from inside her.

"Hahaha, what a typical piece of street trash" the small human on her shoulder laughs.

"Th-this is no laughing matter! Wh-What should I do!?" this is her first time that some goons are threatening her.

"Gee, I wonder. If you use your powers, you could erase these idiots' very existence" the being said in a tone as though it was mere common sense. This made her confused, because…

"I don't have that kind of power!"

"Huh? Who's this lady talking to? Better yet, what's this tiny thing?" the giant burly hoodlum bends his upper body forward, noticing the little thing on her shoulder. The small thing that was on her shoulder suddenly stiffened up, making her look like a small stuff toy.

"What a psycho. Let's just rob her and get on with our lives" he resigned himself to that and walked takes a step forward to their unfortunate victim.

"N-No… Please stay away!" she takes a step back.

"There's no reason to hold back with this group. Just do it" the being on her shoulder whispered.

"Do… what? If I could, then I wouldn't be in this predicament in the first place!"

"Ugh, what an annoyance! Calm down, you crazy woman!"

The guy behind her became very impatient. So he grabbed her wrists, sweep kicked her feet and pinned her down on the ground. With a satisfied grin on his face, he used his forearm to pin both of her wrists down with his body weight and strength. His free hand started groping her chest through her clothes.

"Kyaaah! No, stop! Noooooooooooooooooooo!"

"Huh? What're you…?"

Suddenly, there was something that was seeping out of the ground. Something dark, gooey, liquid? No… it was far more sinister than that. Like flames, the dark liquid from the side licks the air as more and more of it comes out from around them.

"Ah…" then the liquid stops, as though time stopped.

*CHNG!*

"Aa…Ha…Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

"…Huh?" when she came to. She could no longer feel the heavy weight of a human being on top of her.

"Hmph. So you _can _do it" she heard the small being said.

"What just happened!?" the giant hoodlum is astonished.

"Just…. What _are _you!?" the other goon asked. Frightened.

"Huh? Um, um… I…" unable to catch on, Rei stood up.

"S-Stay away! Don't come any closer!" the giant goon, pale as a sheet, screamed and runs away.

"What's with this woman!? Run awaaaaaaaaaay!"

"…" she watched the goons run away frantically, dumbfounded.

"Um, what just happened?" she asked the small thing on her shoulder.

"Like I said, that's your power. Hurry up and believe in it"

"Believe in… my power…?"

"…" then a sort of smell wafts her nose. She followed the smell…

"…" there. It was the hoodlum that pinned her before, it was almost unrecognizable. It was probably because of those black sharp things that have pierced him. His body is split in two, his spine and his lower rib is sticking out. His stomach and intestines are dangling about. Blood tickled down from the dark, menacing blades that was as though it came out of the earth. The scent of iron fills her lungs and nostrils.

"…Hehehe. Hahahahaha!"

This was the introduction of the first CPU.


	153. Chapter 153

Chapter 153:

"Oh, no! It's appeared! The… The monster…!"

"Idiot! Don't call her a monster. She's…"

"She's… she's the one! The chosen one…!"

"Haha, did you hear that shit? You're like a celebrity"

"Heh. Hahaha! Of course I am. With this much power, it's only natural to be feared by commoners"

Passing through a village of sorts, all the villagers all look towards one person with giant smile on her face. This new feeling was pure ecstasy for her. Everyone is looking at her, most in fear and others as though looking at their new messiah. Of course that was how humans are, they submit to people that have more power than themselves. Because humans are weak.

"You're totally different, man. You were such a boring and hesitant bitch before…" the small creature on her shoulder is quite taken a back from her change in attitude.

"Hah! Enough. I've thrown that backward-glancing, hesitant, and boring version of myself" she said loudly, also confirming to herself that she isn't like that anymore.

"Now I am the chosen one! And the chosen one can behave in a certain way, can she not?"

"Whatever, I guess. It's more fun this way. So c'mon, hurry up and make one" the small human urged her to make something.

"Make one what?"

"A nation! That's what your power exists for. I seriously explained this to you already" she might have heard of that but it must have gone out of the other ear.

"I was joking. Pretending like I had forgotten. Still, this whole thing doesn't sit well with me" of course, even though she has gained power, having everyone look at you create a sort of anxiety in you.

"But if I absolutely must, I may think about it"

"Nation? You're… going to create a nation for us…?" one of the villagers overheard.

"Whoa! Has our great leader finally appeared…?"

"Some of these people seem to think this is your calling" the being pointed out.

"Hmph. I have no choice, then" she puts on a smile. Really, who wouldn't get to be happy when you know that you can get whatever you want through sheer power?

"All I can say is that it is the chosen one's destiny to lead the ignorant masses! Hahaha!" she laughs maniacally.

"Damn, man… You're annoying, through and through"

This was the coronation of the first CPU.

* * *

"Bleh, boring. Making a nation was too easy. Well, I guess it would be, with my powers" Rei slumps on her throne.

"Oh yeah, I forgot. Wow… So amazing. You're just amazing and all that. Wow, wow, wow…" the small being in front of her patronized her in monotone.

"Don't patronize me. I deserve praise. Worship me with every breath you take!" annoyed. She told the small human off.

"Shut up. You should make your nation's citizens do that"

"They already do. After all, the ignorant people are only good for singing my praise" in fact, there was literally a hymn just for her. And not a single day goes by without every one singing the hymn.

"Ahh, how kind of me to bring joy to the ignorant masses…"

She had never has this kind of euphoria before. This sense of absolution. A sense of something different from her usual reserved self. Right, she wasn't weak now. Now she can command anyone to do anything for her. Because she knows well that humans are weak creatures. Give them something that they need or want, and they're happy just by being able to reserve themselves to someone above them. Like a dog. The same goes for religion and cults as well.

"Huh. Really? But things haven't been that way lately, have they?" the small creature in front of her pointed something out.

"Hmm? What does that mean?"

"Haven't you noticed? The number of people who dislike your rule has been increasing"

"What? I don't know what you're talking about. How could the ignorant complain about me?" she gave them a nation to live on, away from the fears of monsters. She made laws, to contain unruly people of the street. She gave them technology to use for agriculture, to better increase the food and water supplies.

"I've done so much for them. So… why?"

"Uh, maybe your tyrannical nature. It's a pretty natural reaction"

"Hmm… Is that so? I'll be back shortly" she promptly gets up on her feet and walks the big hall towards the door.

"Huh? Where are you going?"

"Detractors are traitors, and traitors must be dealt with. I'll get rid of them all…!"

*BAM!*

She closed the door with as much force as she can. The large *bam* echo loudly around the hall.

"Whoa, now that's violent. This bitch really doesn't get it…" the small creature smiled.

"Her power stems from the faith of these people…"

This was the start of the fall of the first CPU.

* * *

"Exile her!"

"Because of her, I… I…"

"We don't need you! Get out of here!"

"Yo, we got a crowd today too"

Standing from the balcony of her quarters, she watched as the crowd below are all shouting. They have sign boards that says that she wants her dethroned. They all have rakes and weapons raised in the air. They all sing, not her hymn, but her banishment from this place. They're throwing objects after objects signaling their disgust against her.

"…"

"And you're keeping quiet, huh? What're you gonna do about this bullshit?"

"What… what _is_ this!? What's wrong with them!?" she cannot accept this reality.

"Why are they rising up against me!? I… I lead them all this time! Me! All for them!"

"You went overboard, man. Just too extreme, one way or the other"

"You knew about this, didn't you…?" she glared at the small creature.

"About what?" but the creature isn't at all fazed.

"About my powers growing weaker! The more revolting against me, the less I would have!"

"Yeah, I figured if I told you, you'd keep going anyway. Besides…" the small creature looks down on the angry mob below.

"…it's more fun this way" she smile with a satisfied look on her face.

"Grrrrrah!" she roars. She transformed and grips her staff tightly.

"But you've still got enough left to handle them, right? So, I'm listening. What's your plan?"

" 'Ugh… This isn't what I wanted. Even though I didn't ask for it, this power… They're…!' "

"Yo, quit mumbling. I asked what you're gonna do"

" '…This is enough' "

"Huh? You're gonna sit back while they come get you?"

" 'I didn't need power to begin with! I didn't want this!' If things are like this, then…' " her staff begins to glow brightly.

"Huh? H-Hey, idiot, do that crap outside! If you release your powers in here, I'll…!"

" 'This power… should vanish along with all these people!' "

This was the fall of first CPU.

* * *

"Phew, that was close. I almost got caught in that nonsense… Whoooooa, amazing carnage…!"

The being looks at the city. Or at least, what was once was. There wasn't any huge buildings towering the sky anymore, debris spread across everywhere. There also fires here and there and smokes rising towards the sky, adding the ambiance of the destruction. You can't hear any screams nor cry, just the sound of rubble against rubble and the crackling noises of fire brought by the wind.

There is a strong smell of iron that bathes the air. The fairy looks down, following the source of the smell. There was red, many, many, many, color of red. On this pool of red are bodies, which looks like ants from this altitude, lying on it.

"There's nothing left at all! It's just a razed field!"

"Ahhh…"

"Huh?" the being hears something. She looks down and looks around looking all over. There. On the ground was a woman with her eyes vacantly open. She flies towards her immediately.

"Shit, you're still alive!? Amazing, You still have this much power left, huh?"

"Ahh… Urrrgh…" she flaps her mouth.

"Hmm? Speak up, man"

"Gone… All…"

"Yo, I can't hear you. Articulate and shit"

"It's gone… All of it…"

"Oh, yeah. It's all gone. A total wasteland"

"Power… Nation… People… Everything… Everything is…"

"What, you regretting it? You did it because you wanted to, right?"

"It's all gone… Because I… turned into that…"

"Well yeah, maybe because the wrong one was chosen. I dunno who's in charge of the choosing, though" she honestly doesn't know.

"Is your personality back to normal?" the small being asked.

"Because of me, because of my power… Because of a CPU…"

"It shouldn't have turned out this way. I didn't need this…"

"CPUs shouldn't… CPUs shouldn't… CPUs shouldn't…!"

This was the end of the first CPU.


	154. Chapter 154

Chapter 154:

"Ugghhh…"

"She's mumbling in her sleep again…" Compa said.

"Maybe it's a nightmare" Iffy might be correct on that one.

"Mama's been sleeping for a long time now…" Peashy said, who hasn't left Rie's side ever since she was brought here. Save a few food and bathroom breaks.

"P-ko, I get why you're worried, but plopping down next to her this whole time won't do anything" Neptune said to her.

"What's the harm? She is pretty worried…" and it shows how dear she is to her.

"She's right, dear. Instead of staying close to some woman you know nothing about, stay by me!" that's pretty selfish, Vert.

It has been a couple of days since we got back with an unconscious Rei. We would have let her rest on a futon or something, but Compa, being Compa, convinced us to let her rest on her bed and the original owner of the bed be on the futon. She's a good kid. She tried to nurse her as much as she could, and all that's left is for her to wake up.

"_She_ was really a CPU? (;ﾟ △ﾟ)"

"…As long as we didn't have some group hallucination, uh, yeah" Blanc answered.

"Uggghhh…"

"She's sweating a lot… We should wipe some off…" Nepgear takes the initiative, takes the towel from the bowl of water, twist it so that the excess water would come off and proceeds to the act of wiping.

"AHHH!"

At least she tries to.

*DONK!*

"Bwah!?"

"Owwy!"

Rei suddenly sat up, almost reminds me of myself, and their foreheads collided with such a force that Rei is back lying on the bed. Nepgear was forced to sit on the floor with her hands on her forehead. Now that's a laugh, classic, but funny.

"Whoa! Mommy woke up!"

"Ughhhh… Huh? Where am I?"

"Hey! What's the big idea, waking up and headbutting my totally awesome little sister!?" Neptune's angry.

"Um, I'm okay… It's fine…" Nepgear picks herself up. And obviously there's always going to be something on her forehead

"Your forehead is growing another forehead though" I tell her.

"Ge-Ge, you have a big lump on your forehead" Compa said, also noticing.

"Mama! Mama!" Peashy embraces her mother after finally waking up.

"Um, um, ummm… What's going on here?" confused by the pacing, Rei asked.

"You're in Planeptine's Basilicom. We defeated you, brought you here, and looked after you" Noire answered.

"Since we've seen your true form, we simply must ask you about it" Vert adds.

"True form? Are you talking about… _that_?"

"You changed and became a weird babbling lady…" Plutie frankly said.

"…Well, to be fair, she was pretty weird before she changed, too"

"So by logic, she's weird right now?" I just have to ask.

"So that wasn't a dream… I'm… I'm so, so sorry! I'm sorry I got carried away!" Rei frantically moves her head up and down like a spring-based toy. She's not weird, she just likes to apologize so much.

"She apologized! This is how Mama usually acts!" Peashy is delighted.

"I see, then her personality is just like the Seven Sages said" Nepgear said.

"Oh, I didn't here that one, tell it to me Neptune"

"Hm? Okay! Stop that ear of yours next to my mouth" I did what she tells me to. She whispered everything nicely.

"Wow, they don't even see her as the leader of the Seven huh..."

"It's time to get down to the nitty-gritty. You're Rei, right? And you're also a CPU?" Noire asked.

"Aww, you noticed… I-I'm sorry about that!" she just loves to apologize huh. Well considering everything that has happened to her before she became a CPU, it's understandable, really.

"Apologizing doesn't help us understand, silly…" Plutie said.

"…Speak and choose your words carefully" Blanc almost commanded.

"Oh, okay. Well, before… I was a CPU…"

"You're a CPU too, Mama? Then we're the same!"

"Tell us more about that. It's cool if it's a really long story or whatever" Neptune said.

"You probably shouldn't have said that last part…" I tell her.

"Um, okay… This might be long but please bear with me" please don't extend this chapter extend to 3000 words. It's hard splitting it up.

"It started a long, long time ago. Thousands, maybe tens of thousands of years before you were born…"

"See? This is going to take 3000 words…" I said to Neptune.

"Oops. I guess it's really gonna be a super-long coma-inducing story. Can someone brew some tea" Neptune ordered some tea.

"Then, let me brew some on!" Compa volunteered and runs off.

"Perhaps you could prepare some crumpets for us, as well" Vert said her request.

"...Back then, the concept of 'nations' didn't even exist"

…Huh? What in the heavens…?

"Wait a sec!"

"Eek! Wh-Wh-what is it!?" Neptune sudden shout, interrupted Rei's story.

"What was that thingy? What just kinda popped up and was all like 'hello, how are you'!?" Neptune asked. For a split second, my mind was all over some scribbles of red and black that I don't understand. I thought it was some foreign language and shit, but it might be some alien message or something.

"Maybe we are just tired and seeing the same exact thing" Vert speculated.

"So… group hallucination? We're probably going mad right now. Or maybe we are and we don't know it"

"…Gh, isn't that bad?" Blanc said.

"There's herbal tea I know to counter that…"

"Isn't Compa making tea right now?" Nepgear said.

"Compa, can you make give me the Chamomile Flowers, Lemon Balm, Skullcap and Lavender combo tea? Make that 3 please?" I called.

"Okaaaay!"

"Um, to help you understand how things were back then, I tried to create a picture for you…" oh, so it was a picture then. Wait? Where's the picture? Oh, it's there… Sitting on Rei's lap. Wait, when in the hell did she have the time to make one!?

"Picture? You call _that _a picture!?" Noire asked.

"W-Well, it is a picture by definition, isn't it? Look" Rei holds up the picture.

"Tell us to look all you want, but still…" Iffy doesn't have any follow ups.

"I-It's very… avant-garde" Nepgear tries to compliment.

"Woooow… I can't tell what this is supposed to be at all…" not everyone in this room can tell what the she scribbled.

"Hehehe! You draw funny, Mama!" Peashy merely laughs.

"…A master artist" Blanc is sarcastic.

"Aww, don't be like that… I thought it would be helpful, so I made a lot of them…" again, when in the hell did you find the time to make those!?

"It's not nice to tease someone who's bedridden and recovering!" Compa came back with a tray full of tea. She puts the tray down and distributes the tea to us.

"Oh, thanks…" I took mine and takes a sip. Aaah… Calming…

"We're not teasing her. It's a totally legitimate concern since the readers can't see them and we might be misunderstood" we're already misunderstood.

"Continuing with several more of them is too strong of an impact anyway" Noire said.

"I second that… *SIIIP!*"

"Anyway! If we keep commenting she will be unable to continue. Please proceed" Histy urged Rei to continue her story.

"Are you through joking around? Then, I'll make another picture and continue my explanation…"

"Um, that isn't necessary, is it?" Nepgear asked.

"I'm willing to bet she'd continue with it, with or without it being necessarry"

"If we know this is gonna be weird from the get-go, we should be able to keep our comments in, right?" Neptune said.

"Sure, sure" and it's the reason why I specifically make Compa this tea.

"Right-o…!" Plutie said, raising a fist in the air.

"…I don't wanna hear Neptune telling us not to get off track. And this tea is really smoothing…" Blanc said.

"Good for very long, stressful talks…" and this is going to be a long, _stressful _talk.


	155. Chapter 155

Chapter 155:

"O-okay, I'll be continuing now! At the time, the concept of "nations" didn't exist" Rie continues her story, still holding up the unholy picture that she drew.

"Whoa, it popped up again! When I stare at it, hehe… Isn't this hilarious, you guys?" Neptune stifled a laugh.

"Jeez. You just told us no to comment. But um, well… Snnnrk… Hehehe…" Noire too. Don't tell me that they're all going to stifle a laugh.

"…Don't look directly at it. If you do… hehe… it becomes hard not… pffft… to laugh" if you laugh Blanc, the tea in your hand would spill.

"…And CPUs were just the stuff of legend" Rei continued despite everyone else.

"The human heart grew dark and war was endless. It was chaos. I lived a life of apathy back then…" humans here and the humans in my dimension isn't very much different.

"I don't even remember how I became a CPU" so who ma… let's get into that later.

"I think it as some odd little coincidence. I just realized what I had become one day" coincidence, huh?

"I used my powers as a CPU to give the powerless humans their desire – a nation" powerless humans? That phrase is getting old…

"I called this nation, Tari"

"…Tari…?" Blanc repeats the name.

"You've heard about it, Blanc?" Neptune asked.

"…I've seen it mentions in an old document or two" she answers.

"…A nation ruled with despotism and tyranny. It was called Tari"

"Sounds like something from a fairy tale…" I said.

"…I figured it was a legend, or maybe like a warning. But to hear it really existed…"

"Records may exist in my database. A search would take about three days, so I will hold off for now" mini-Histy said. I have the urge to look at her book right now, but I'll hold off for now.

"Uggggggh…. So that's how it's remembered…? How embarrassing…"

"Becoming a CPU in your thirties takes a lot of determination" Vert consoles.

"So you got careless, took your sweet time, and _this _happened. I can see that"

"Just like how you were trying to befriend Plutie right? I can see that as well Noire"

"H-Hey…!" she's flustered.

"B-But I'm really _not _in my thirties! I mean, I was close, but still…! Moving on…" she drops the picture in her hand and pulled out another drawing. This time, with less scribbles and still not understandable. What kind of language is this anyway…?

"What the goodness!? There's another picture" Nepgear is surprised.

"Hmph. We get the honor of gazing upon yet another work of modern art" Vert is sarcastic now.

"Hahahahahahaha! It's so funny!" Peashy laughs at her mother's creation.

"Amaaaaaazing… I could never draw something like this…" Plutie, are you serious on that? Or are you sarcastic on it?

"Everyone is going to comment on the image quality again, I take it? (´Д`;)"

"Using my newfound CPU powers, I made a nation that could rule over all of Gamindustri" Rei continues.

"I first thought it was destiny that I got such powers, so I tried to lead the people as best I could" naturally.

"And you're probably aware of this, but… I-I'm not normally like this, but um…" stop mumbling and say it.

"When I grow powerful, my personality changes completely…" right, we saw that.

"You certainly were like a different person" Nepgear adds.

"Mhm, mhm! It was a gaping chasm of different-ness, like when Plutie transforms!"

"In Plutie's case, I think we're really looking into what she's really like…"

"Th-This woman turned into someone like lady Plutia!" IF's trauma is triggering again.

"Eeeeeeeeeh… There's a muuuuuuuuuch bigger gap when _you _transform, Neppy" Plutie points that out.

"We should keep in mind that this woman can become strange even when she hasn't transformed" Vert said.

"That other person wasn't Mama!" Peashy said.

"Uggggh… I have no response" Rei is about to get depressed again.

"…Calm down and continue" Blanc said to her.

"W-Well, that's just how I am, so eventually the people rose up against me and another war began" that's natural.

"I did all I could…"

"To make calm everyone down?"

"Well… You dare to bite the hand that feeds you!? Uwaahahahahahahahahahaha! Impudent curs, I'll crush you!" woah, woah, woah, woah!

"That was kind of how I approach the situation" oh, she's back to normal.

"Jaysus… don't me a heart attack…"

"Seeing how insane you got, I can imagine it pretty easily" Noire said.

"So didja kick their cans or whatever?" Neptune asked.

"I did. It was then I realized that CPU's power is drawn from the faith of her people"

"Nobody could believe in a CPU who would act the way you did. (-.-)"

"Precisely, so in that vein…" she pulls out another picture.

"Hold on! A _third _picture!? No way! If only the readers could see this! Ahahahah! I can't take this tomfoolery!"

"Me neither…! It's so funny, hahahahaha!" Plutie laughs with Neptune.

"Nep-Nep. Plu-Plu, don't laugh at her sarcastic sensibilities!"

"Ignore them and continue" Iffy advised.

"Ugh, it's fine, really. Laugh all you want at it" Rei has tears in the corner of her eyes.

"Anyway, I lost my powers and my nation collapsed in a matter of minutes" that's a given.

"Their hearts grew more uncertain. Because of me, my people didn't know what to do about anything…"

"…The Great Crash, right? My old documents mentioned a huge recession in Gamindustri" Blanc said.

"I've heard about that… Shares were so low, that the economy dropped. The industry tried to revive it, but it was so freaking low that no one wants to purchase anything. It's like we returned to being cavemen"

"For the longest time since then, I lost almost all of my powers as a CPU" yeah, the Great Crash occurred for a freaking long time. Until a certain person here, became CPU.

"I could neither die nor age… I just sat, thinking, for a long, long time about what went wrong" so… did your butt hurt? Did you get cramps? I mean, as a passerby myself, I haven't tried sitting and thinking for a long, long time.

"Even though I know it's just me passing the blame, I felt the problem lied in all CPUs…"

"*Sigh*" I facepalm, sigh, and shook my head. People can be so stupid...

"It was a mistake to allow a CPU to create and rule a nation, causing hardships for its people" really now…

"That's why… I enlisted the Seven Sages' help, and we engaged in those terrible activities…"

"…" terrible? More like mortifying.

"Passing the blame, indeed…" Vert said.

"It was just because you were a terrible leader" Noire said.

"…It's as you say..."

"…Your inferiority complex made you associate with evil, and that's how the Seven Sages started" Blanc is slightly pissed.

"Ughhh… I'm sorry…"

"And then you turned P-ko into a CPU as an experiment!"

"So you got caught up in each little step and forgot what your initial goal was…"

"Uh-huh, that's sooooooo true…!"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

"C'mon girls, cut her some slack… let bygones be bygones as they say"

"Don't bully Mama so much!" Peashy is getting angry.

"That appears to be the gist of things. (-.-)"

"At least we verified that my story telling, while getting here, was true and not conjecture…" I said.

"…Not like it matters, since we've crushed the Seven Sages" Blanc adds.

"True…"

"Eh? S-so you knew already?" Rei asked.

"More than you told here… Here…" I pulled out my clamp shell type phone from my pocket. This phone is pretty good all around, I can read text files that I dumb here. So I pull the text file that I've read back at Anonydeath's lair, then show her the contents

"Th-That's my diary… How…!?"

"Who knows… coincidence I guess…" for the most part it was coincidence.

"One thing doesn't sit well with me" Vert said.

"Huh? Wh-What is it?"

"According to your tale, your powers were depleted. How did you find power great enough to stand against us?"

"Oh, um, because…! Ahhhhh! That's right, it's wrong! I just can't sit her like this!" she throws the covers off of her.

"Nothing's been resolved! Nothing's been answered at all!"

"Nepu! What's up with your crazy babble?"

"Please calm down and explain to us..." Nepgear tells her.

"I can't calm down and I don't have time to explain! Oooh, what should I do…!?"

"Hahahahaha! That's my Mama!"

"Ooooh, so Rei is always like this…" Plutie seems convinced.

"Uh-huh! She stops if you do this, though! Hi-yah!" Peashy heads over to her mother and chops her on the head.

*Thonk!*

"Bwah!? M-My head… Owwww…"

"I stopped Mama! I stopped Mama"

"Convinient…" it's also fun to do.

"You shouldn't hit your mommy's head so much, Pea-Pea. She might turn into a dummy" nice word play Compa.

"Huh? Really?"

"In any case, she has calmed down a bit, so… What is this terrible thing you were going on about? ( ﾟД ﾟ)"

"Ah! I'm… I'm sorry that I got a little out of control…" not just a little.

"Um, to explain that, I'll need to first explain some other things" right more explaining. And I've drank all my tea already.

"Explain it in three lines" Neptune said.

"What!? That's not enough space at all! So what does that make the character limit!?"

"200 characters" I said.

"Knock it off. It doesn't matter if it's long. Just explain" Noire said.

Sigh, this is going to take another chapter huh?


	156. Chapter 156

Chapter 156:

"Geez, it's another chapter worth of explanations and stuff. What is the author thinking!? The readers are going to get pissed" Neptune said.

"…Can't help it. He's the author after all..." I said.

"Don't worry, you're the main character, so people might not get pissed if you do some stuff that'd make them laugh…"

"Then I'll do some head spins!" I'll laugh, but I don't think the readers will. Probably.

"So, are you two done now?" Noire calls us.

"Frolicking around is good for the heart" I said.

"…We can continue without them" Blanc said.

"O-okay. Then you already know about _that, _right?" Rei asked.

"The other dimension? The one that's very similar to our own?" she clarified her question.

"The one my sister, big brother and I are from" Nepgear answered.

"R-Right. Theoretically, there are an infinite number of them, so it may be a coincidence, but…"

"There's another me in your dimension, too"

"There sure is! She was handing out fliers from some 'let's have a proper society' thing" Neptune said.

"I received one, and then she ran away after I explained a few key points…" I add.

"Before I came over, things had gotten a bit worse…" Negpear adds as well.

"Well… it wouldn't be wrong to say that might also be my fault…" hrm?

"Of course, I have no ill will, so you could call this an unlucky coincidence, or an accident…"

"Speak up please…" I beg.

"…The awkward rationalizing really isn't necessary"

"S-Sorry! In any event, I was born as a normal human in your dimension" ain't that obvious. If she was born as a bird and gives out fliers that'd be a show. I'm being sarcastic I know.

"But because she's still me, she's hesitant and fails at everything she tries…" true. She was hesitant when she explained stuff to me.

"But she still wants to change society with all her might! Even without power, she tries so hard…" changing the world is a big thing.

"I knew she existed, so I asked for my last remaining power to be transferred to her"

"You gave power to the Rei in our dimension… So when Neptune was sent over here…"

"Yes, it was due to the me in your dimension. You could say I'm the cause of everything…"

I see. So that's why the Rei over there was able to gather a crowd. Humans are submissive to great power so they'll submit to it. I bet that she showed them how powerful she was, said something along the lines off:

'With this we no longer need CPUs!'

Then a crowd gathered around her. And then she said along the lines off:

'I don't care how you gather people, brainwash them or something but we need more people! Understand you mongrel!'

Yeah, not that far off. And I'm willing to bet that to overturn the CPUs, which is an event occurring at this very moment, which is also an event that I'm looking after, she's the one that cooked up the plan to start people make riots and such while delivering weapons for the coup d'état.

"…Sometimes I scare myself…" I think my psychic powers are blooming. And so two questions remain.

"I knew it! I've gone through a tone of shenanigans thanks to you!" Neptune said. I should've said something about our marriage, but Neptune and I made a deal that we'll invite 'everyone'. Yup, _everyone_. So that's a different story altogether.

"S-Sorry! I know my apology is really late, but still… I'm sorry!" Rie bows her head.

"Uh-huh, okey-dokey… Thanks for the story, Rei…" Plutie thanked. Hrm… I think I understand why. So I smiled and pet Neptune's head.

"Ehehe…"

"Uh…you're welcome…?" Rei is confused.

"Don't thank her. Were you even listening to what she said?" Noire said.

"Ummmm, yeah, I was. Thanks to Rei, we were all able to meet Neppy, right…?"

"…That's one way to look at it" Blanc agreed.

"Thanks to Mama! All thanks to Mama!"

"When you put it that way, I was able to meet all of you because of her, too" Neptune agrees.

"We have good friends indeed" and good friends are hard to come by in this crazy, cruel world.

"Yep, yep. So let's not make another grumble about getting 'sent' anywhere"

"Th-Thank you very much!" she smiled. Relieved of a fact that she's done something good. Even though it's just an accident. Oh well, no point in pointing that out.

"You know there are still some points to ask first…" I said.

"Wh-What is it?"

"…We still don't know how you obtained such power"

"Don't steal my thunder Vert…"

"Sorry, but I asked that first…"

"Fine. I'll give you this one"

"Um, actually, I don't really understand it very well, myself" not a good start for a very important answer.

"Over here, we kept losing, but the other me said she's been getting stronger…" probably from the drugs and women her subordinates use to gather more people. And also she said 'said'… so that means…

"She leveled up!" Peashy repeats.

"What does this mean…?" Nepgear asked.

"There must be a balance of power existing between our dimensions. Merely my hypotheses. (´ ・д ・`)"

"I'd disagree with that. If that were the case, then with everything that is happening in the other dimension, the Shares rate here would have fallen dramatically" I said.

"Is it really that bad?" Nepgear asked.

"…It's enough to give me a few headaches or two…"

"…No point debating it. We should only accept solid truths for the time being" Blanc said.

"I concur. Now, Jared it's your turn to ask" Vert gave me the stage.

"Huh? D-Did I say something odd?" Rei asked.

"Not at all. Now, how did you come to know there is another you in another dimension? Or how did you know that there's another dimension at all?" Neptune knew by chance, our Histoire knew because of something amiss when we were searching for her. I knew through coincidence, and research. Theories are still theories but she was so sure of that other dimensions exist. And the fact that she also knew that another her exist in that dimension.

"Um, that's… How do I explain…?"

"Sorry for the difficult question" I apologize.

"Um. N-no, I understand. My power carries a characteristic that lets me distort… or even pierce… other dimensions…" handy…

"Oh. no! I failed to tell you about Croire!" she screamed again.

"Croire?" Plutie said.

"That… sounds similar to your name, Histoire" Nepgear points that out.

"Y-Yes, it certainly does. I have feeling that I have heard that before…( ・A ・)"

"This is just my guess, but I think Histoire is to Plutia what Croire is to me" Rei said.

"But anyway, she's been with me ever since I became a CPU…"

"Oh, talkin' smack about me?"

"Who's there!? An intruder!?" Iffy switches to high gear and looks around intently.

"She's right in front of you, Iffy" I said.

"Yo. Nice to meet you and all that crap, even though I know _all _about you already" in front of us, appears a being that is the same size as Histy, the big one, riding on a book.

"You…"

…smell like _him_.


	157. Chapter 157

Chapter 157:

"Eh? You are…! (つ°⊿°)つ"

"Histoire? There are two Histoires?" Peashy asked.

"No, they're just exactly similar… Is this…?" Compa asked Rei.

"Yes, the girl I was just trying to tell you about"

"Croire, huh…"

Croire is a pale-tan skinned girl with bright blue eyes and choppy, platinum blonde-white colored hair worn with black ear pieces with red on them. She has a pair of purple and blue gradient themed wings and wears a black dress with silver and red accents, a crimson ribbon tied around her right wrist, and a cape like piece that attaches to her top by the big pink orb in the center of it. With smaller pink orbs below her shoulders. She's also the same size as our Histy.

My instincts told me that someone or something was coming in here. It's the reason why I'm not that surprised. But what I was surprised for is, I can feel _him_. Like _he's _in front of me. My blood is beginning to boil, so

"Ummmm… Since she's like a dark-looking Histy, maybe we can call her Darksty!" Plutie suggests a nickname.

"No no, evil Histy should be called something like Badsty!" that's not too far from what Plutie suggested Neptune.

"Hey, brats. Don't make up names for people. My name's Croire"

"Croire… Who exactly are you? (; °△°)"

"I wonder about that. Probably the same as you" Croire answered.

"You were made to record the history of the CPUs and weave realities or some crap, right?"

"Y-Yes, something like that. You, as well? (; °△°)"

"Somewhat. I'm more interested in livening up history"

"What!? But interfering with the natural course of history goes directly against our…! (; `o´)。"

"Our? Who the hell're you including in that statement?"

"Huh? Th-That would be, um… (´°Д°`)"

"Hahaha, sucks for you that you can only vaguely sense the connection to another world"

"Then you and I are in the same boat, as it were? (°Д°)"

"Well, unlike you, I can't make a connection to other worlds. I can travel to them, though" convenient.

"I was about to ask how she was able to provide her doppelganger power. I guess I don't need to anymore" I said.

"…I don't get why you just floated on in here and interrupted us" Blanc adds.

"Wh-What did you come here for? You aren't going to force more unwanted power on me, are you?" Rei asked.

"I…I don't need it! This time, I refuse to have things crammed into my mouth!" that sounds wrong.

"Nah. We've known each other for a while, so I wanted to give you a heads up" Croire said.

"Not like it matter"

"Huh? What is it?"

"The other you said she's gonna destroy this world. That would include you"

"Huh?"

"Ooh, she dreams big…"

"Wait! Don't just casually tell someone that their doppelganger is gonna destroy our world!" Noire said.

"How could she do that, though?" Nepgear asked.

"You'll know how when you see it. The whole thing's going down pretty soon"

*BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!*

*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*

"Nepu!"

"Whee!?"

"Pea!"

"Whoooa!"

"Whooa! Better timing than I could've expected"

I head out of the room and into the living area. Looking through the glass sliding door, there's something odd about the sky. No, the whole sky _is_ odd. I slide it open and head outside. The sky is black, blacker than just ordinary thunderstorm. My instincts are all screaming danger at me. Then from that dark thing, a large pillar of light struck down, like lightning. It hits one of the buildings a few blocks away from us.

*BAM!*

*BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!*

And the building collapses.

"Wh-What in the world…?" looking back, the rest have followed me. That was Vert's surprised voice.

"The sky's all dark! Totally black!" Peashy said.

"…There's a beam of… dark light coming down from the sky" Blanc said.

"Not the sky. The other dimension. Hahaha! She really does plan to randomly destroy everything!" Croire just laughs.

"Th-This is how strong I am? I have enough power to do something like this…?" Rei is surprised.

"Yeah, I bet shit's really hitting the fan over there, too"

"A'ight, I'm outta here. Do you… Whoa! Whoa! I forgot something really important!" Croire quickly reminds herself.

"Wh-What is it now!" Noire asked.

"Hey, you…" its voice was directed at me.

"…What?"

"…"

Translation: How's your little dead girlfriend doing?

"…!"

Huh?

"…Huh? What did she said?" Neptune asked.

"I don't know, I didn't hear it…" Nepgear answered.

Wait.

"…"

Translation: Aww, don't just stand there dumbstruck.

"C-Croire?" Rei called. But Croire ignored.

"…"

Translation: _He _asked me…!

"…!"

Translation: You…!

"Whoa! Whoa! I shouldn't be using _that _if I were you"

"…!" Fuck! I instantly turn away. Keeping my 'gaze' to the ground.

"Jared! Hey, what's the big deal you little Histy faker you!" Neptune said. Croire ignores.

"Ehehe. You really are _his_ son!"

"…!" I shout. My blood boiling at it's highest.

Translation: To hell with that!

"…" Croire disappears like she were never there.

Translation: I wonder about that. Well, I'll be going now.

"W-Wait a moment! I still have questions for you…! (°o°)ﾉ"

"Whoooa… She disappeared!" Plutie is surprised.

"This isn't the time for that! Does she really plan to skip out on us _now_!?" Noire shouts.

"We gotta figure out what to do about the falling sky thing! How do we stop it!?"

"The world really will fall apart at this rate…!"

*CLAP!*

"…!"

"Everyone awake now?" I ask. I clapped my hand as hard and loud as I could.

"…Um… Yeah… Sorry…" Nepgear answered for the rest.

"Panicking is human. Don't worry about it…" I also woke up from my own actions.

"First off, lead everyone to safety. Outside the city or at shelters. Blanc, Noire and Vert, get back to your own country do just that ASAP!"

"Okay!" the three starts to walk towards the terrace.

"We'll meet up again right here. Go and do your stuff as fast as you can!" Neptune said.

"I don't need to be motivated by _you_! I'm leaving now!" Noire transforms and flew off.

"From one trial to the next, hmm? We've hardly the time to catch our breath these days"

"…I'll pay back that bitch one hundred times over for this" Vert and Blanc transform and flies in opposite directions.

"Now, Histy. Make a giant announcement of a massive evacuation. Round up the soldiers to help the crowd. Now!"

"O-Okay! (ﾟﾛﾟﾉ)ﾉ"

"Neptune and Plutie go around Planeptune and guide everyone out of this city. Nepgear and Compa, roundup every medical team this city has and have them stationed outside for everyone. We also need tents, beds and everything to keep a man breathing"

"Wow. The only time Jared's like that when he was with his gang" Neptune said.

"Whooa! Jarey has a gang!?"

"Yeah, they're disbanded now. But I think they still follow him"

"Let's go, Ge-Ge"

"Right!" Nepgear follows Compa to the terrace, transforms and flies out with carrying Compa.

"Peashy go with Neptune. Worst case scenario, is that someone is stuck under a pile of rubble, or a giant debri is hindering the quickest path. So you'll be in charge of punching those rocks away"

"Okay! I don't get it, but I'm going to punch some rocks away!"

"Let's go!"

"Ooooh!"

The three transforms in the living room fast and flies out through the open sliding door.

"Iffy, get back to your department and gather as much info as you on the current situation. I want every last detail that happened today"

"Roger!" Iffy runs off.

"And Rei…"

"Uggggh… Because of me… This is all my fault…" sigh.

"If you think it's your fault then get down there and help people get to safety"

"But… But…"

"No buts! Time's wasting and people are dying! Get down there now!"

"Y-Yes! Ah! Hold the elevator!" Rei runs off, joining Iffy in the elevator.

"And as for me…" I turn to look at the current situation once more.

"…I'm going to check with that asshole again"


	158. Chapter 158

Chapter 158:

You can't help but take this life for granted. Your eyes adjust to the color of the walls and your ears tune out the chatter. As if your body's trying to filter out the world as you know it. And while your brain goes numb trying to shake off your complacency, your heart can't sit still, and your gut is hungry for chaos— itching to chase after storms and run headlong into the fire. To watch society break down. And find out what's truly important and watch everything else fall away.

The apocalypse is one of the oldest fantasies we have, but it's not about skipping to the end of the story. It's a longing for revelation, a revealing of what we already know, but cannot see. That none of this is guaranteed. And there's no such thing as "ordinary life."

That our civilization is just an agreement, that could be revoked at any time. And beneath our rules and quarrels, we're stuck together on a wide open planet, where anything can happen. Leaving us no choice but to survive, to build a shelter, and find each other in the storm. That even just getting through the day should feel like the miracle it is. A cascading series of accidents that just happened to fall your way.

But soon the storm will pass, and the world will go on spinning, and we'll pick up our lives just where we left them, no more urgently than before.  
After all, it's just life. It's not the end of the world.

It's been 24 hours since Ragnarok began. I call it Ragnarok because I can't think anything else to call it. And for now we have momentary reprieve. The TV in the living area shows the news of what's going on at ground level. We have several buildings that have been struck down, and fires on some areas. But nothing too major. We've managed to evacuate the whole civilization outside of Planeptune. As it stands being near buildings with those beams striking down is dangerous.

Right now, we have a meeting.

"We're all here. What's the situation?" Noire asked.

"I would like to say that things have calmed down, however…" Vert said.

"…The attacks are indiscriminate, and come at random times and places. We can't do much" Blanc said.

"So much of the city is broken! Like it's been stomped on!" Peashy said.

"Peashy, this isn't something to be happy about…" Nepgear scolds.

"Luckily, we've sustained minimal casualties. For the most part, the civilians are camping outside of Planeptune complete with medics and rations" I followed up our report.

"All the citizens are afraid…" that's a given Plutie.

"Neppy and I thought we could cheer them up with a comedy bit, but nobody even giggled once…"

"So that's why you two were taking your sweet time"

"Perhaps that has more to do with your material" Vert said.

"No, the jokes were pretty much the funniest things ever spoken. Plutie had poor timing, though" Neptune explained.

"Sorrrry… I'm no good at quick retorts…" Plutie apologized.

"This is no time to reflect on how to better your comedy routine!" Noire got mad.

"U-Um, if you don't do something about the other me. I don't think this will end…" Rei said.

"You act like this has nothing to do with you. Who do you think is at fault for this destruction!?" Iffy interjects.

"Eep! S-Sorry…"

"Iffy, nothing good will come of being a mean girl right now" Compa tells.

"I have attempted to contact the other me several times, but I cannot connect… (°∀°;)"

"My Histy has better processing power, but she kinds gets all locked up at the worst times…" Neptune said.

"I bet she's on the bottom shelf of a bookcase right about now" that sounds ridiculous.

"That's not…! Well, actually, that could be true" Nepgear said. Now it might be plausible.

"My Histy would do that, too…" Plutie claims.

"What!? Is that how you see me, Plutia-ababababababababa! Σ(￣皿￣)"

"Ababababa?" Peashy repeats mini-Histy's weird scream.

"It's here! It's been a while since Vibristy!" Neptune said. Vibristy? That sounds like a logo for a vibrator.

"P-Please d-d-d-do not say such s-s-s-stra-a-ange things! Erm, yes? Hello? (￣Д￣)" mini-Histy answers the call. And a small holographic screen appears in front of her.

"_I apologize for missing all of your calls. I have finally been able to get through to you…_" a familiar face and a tone that I haven't heard of in a quite a while rings throughout the living area.

"…Utter her name and she appears" Blanc said.

"Julia"

"…What was that?" Blanc asked.

"Testing out the theory..."

"It's Big Histy! It's been soooo long…!" Plutie greeted.

"You're really late, y'know! Just what could have possibley kept you?" Neptune demands answers from tardiness.

"_Well, you see… I was trapped under a fallen bookcase and could only escape just now_"

"Pfft!" I want to laugh! I want to really laugh!

"H-Histoire…" Nepgear has no words to comment on. Probably because we're just talking about her a while ago.

"Nep may be more observant than we give her credit for"

"Haha…She's always been observant. It's just hiding from how she acts" especially when it comes to my well-being. I'm one lucky guy.

"How're things over there? Thanks to _this _one, everything over here is FUBAR" Noire said.

"It means fucked up beyond all recognition" I add. Sugar coating it doesn't make it look like a very heavy word.

"I'm so sorry for all this"

"…Please stop the blaming game. It won't get anything done…" I said.

"_Planeptune is in ruins. The CPUs are assessing damages, but we cannot reach the city center_" my brain overclocks automatically.

"No way!?" Nepgear is in shock.

"Can't you do anything? If you stop the attacks there, it will resolve our problem, as well" Vert asked.

"_There is nothing we can do at this time…_"

"Tell me briefly of what happened" I requested.

"_You're plan seemed to have worked. And we've managed to avoid a war between the rioters. But as soon as they laid down their arms…_"

"Shit just gone haywire…" of course, if the pawns can't do their job right. Then the king would have to take matters in their own hands. Hrm…

"_Neptune, Jared and Nepgear, can the three of you please return home?_" Big-Histy suggested.

"Just us?" Nepgear asked.

"I see what's happening. If the start isn't there, you can't move the plot along. How unreliable!" Neptune said.

"_We will take any helping hands we can get, even if those hands tend to be butterfingers…_"

"Huh. So now you're making fun of my cat fingers"

"Ahaha! Look! Look! I have cat fingers!"

"Ehehe. That's good, Peashy. You certainly have healthy cat fingers" Vert spoils.

"It's not a cat's fingers. It's a tigers" Plutie corrected.

"When you ask us like that, it doesn't give me the best motivation to skip on home" Neptune said.

"_This is no time to make such comments!_"

"Going home is fine and all, but what about the dimensional path? Can you open it back up?" Nepgear asked.

"_In truth, I am not certain. Planeptune's shares are extremely low over here…_"

"…We can't say things are moving along smoothly here, either"

"Blanc's right. Our shares are plummeting down as we speak…" according to Iffy's investigation of everything earlier. And I mean _everything_. She even got the temperature. Such an over achiever.

"We're still struggling to get our shares back that we lost to Peashy and Eden" Iffy adds.

"_There is no time to waste. Please contact me when you are prepared_"

"I'm so, so sorry. That's my fault, too" Rei asked for forgiveness. It's getting to me, actually.

"_We must proceed as if it were a certainty, in any case. We need all the firepower we can get_"

"She has disconnected. I think she was panicking, personally. (;° △°)"

"What're we gonna do, Neppy…?" Plutie asks. Despite the obvious answer. But still, her soft questions screams for a different way.

"Uh, well, this actually sonds like we should stop messing around. Jared you tell us!" Neptune calls for me.

"Hey, don't so dependent on me. I'm not a miracle maker…" or maybe I am.

"Well, you have a look of a guy who's thinking about the future and stuff"

"I'm not a psychic. But in any case, the most obvious answer is we have to go back…" I tell them the truth.

"But, but…!" Plutie stands up.

"Plutie, I know how you feel and I know what you want to say… But…" I look at her dead in the eyes.

"…We need to go back, or we might not even have a home to return to. Hell, this might be our very last day…"

Such a very atmosphere; no one says a word. I understand completely. After all, I've been with these girls for the past 15 years in this dimension's pace of time. We've raised three problem children, we've celebrated birthdays, Christmas', New Years and all that. We've have fun together, we all get sad together. We've played under the sun, we tell stories during the rain. We've made the best memories possible. But the sad truth about relationships is, that everything lives on borrowed time. We have to say farewell and goodbye eventually.

"…People can't stand the fact that nothing lasts forever. I can't either…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

They stare at me.

"…All dreams end when you wake up. And we'd have to move on and start the day, whether by choice or not, knowing that we can't continue that same dream ever again. We can still dream, but it's never the same every time. People are like cameras, we can capture the next best moment, but can't recreate the last best moment"

"…So the only choice we have is to endure and to keep that dream in the corner of your soul. Endure and remember, until you naturally forget. That's what acceptance means and the sad truth in all relationships"


	159. Chapter 159

Chapter 159:

"You know"

"Jared…"

"Hm? What is it Neptune, can't sleep?" I ask my fiancée standing near the corner.

"Mhm…"

"C'mere… I just finished talking over the phone…"

It's a peaceful night. Although the peace part is out of place, you can't deny that it's pretty much a silent night. And I'm here, just sitting with my back on the wall talking to some people over at the phone, until Neptune came along. She sat beside me and puts her head on my shoulder. I hold her soft hand and she grasp it.

"…Is it about tomorrow…"

"Mhm…"

Earlier, before we have gone to sleep. We decided to do head back tomorrow morning. Vert suggested that, and no one opposed even Plutie.

"…I don't want to go… But I have to go…" pleasure and work always constraint a person.

"I know… you can't bear being separated with people you dear, right?"

"Mhm…I know I have to protect Planeptune, but, but… when I think that I can't see Plutie anymore. I…"

"Ssh. Don't even say it" I stop Neptune's next words.

"But…"

"…If the thought ever crosses your mind, don't even say it…" in fact, she shouldn't even think about it.

"Hey, I love you" I said spontaneously.

"That's unfair…"

"…As so the world"

"…Mmm…" she pouts.

"Ahaha... So… Hrm?"

Suddenly my vision turns white. I close my eyes and block the source with my hands. I can feel Neptune's face on my arm. The light dissipated as quickly as it came. Slowly opening my eyes and removing my hand, I look through the glass sliding door.

"Oh… the building that's a few blocks away got done in…" I said.

"…I don't know what to do, Jared..."

"Then… let's both struggle for a little bit. Think and think of a way until the very last second. And if you can't anymore, let's both endure, okay?"

"But if we go… then our promise…" right. There was that…

"…The promise did say that we're going to get married if _everyone _attends, right?"

"Mhm…"

"…Then we'll stick to it"

"Eh…" she seems surprised by my answer

"We've been together having fun for 15 years now in this world… I think it's enough to say that our relationship is more than just an ordinary husband and wife"

"Sorry…"

"Don't be"

"And…"

"…Hm" I look at her.

"…I love you too…" and greeted me with a smile.

"I know. Why don't we go to sleep like this, it's pretty damn romantic…"

"Okay~!" with a cheery voice, she snuggles up to me and rest her whole body to me. I did the same and snuggle up to her.

"Goodnight"

"Goodnight"

* * *

"_Are preparations complete on your end?_" Histy said through the holographic monitor.

"I've got the laptop ready" and it's heavy, reminds me of the first generation laptops.

"Yep! Beam us up anytime!" Neptune said.

"You're so energetic, Sis…" Nepgear said.

It's early in the morning the following day. The sun is bright, probably, and the chirps are chirping, supposedly. I'm trying to keep my spirits up despite that dark thing that covers the entire freaking sky blocking the sun rays reaching us. So much for early morning's vitamin D. It's the reason why we're staying indoors.

In any case, we're in the Planeptower's share room. If you want to know where, there's an elevator in the dining area and it leads you to there. The share room is quite the same, albeit smaller but the same. With only just the share crystal in the middle of the room, shining with utter perfect brilliance. This is where we're going to open a path to head on home. And as obvious as it is, there's always someone who's going to biter about it.

"Mmmmmmm…" Plutie grunts in dissatisfaction.

"Neptuna, Jaweed, are you going somewhere?" Peashy hasn't caught on yet.

"They are. But I'm going to stay here with you, Peashy" Vert tries to comfort the little one.

"Nep, can't you think about how we're feeling right now?"

"Nep-Nep, Jar-Jar, I… I…"

"See? Everyone's sad that we're leaving so suddenly" Nepgear points out.

"I know that, really. But we kinda did this scene already, and I'm not good at this sort of thing…" Neptune answered.

"And we can't expect a miraculous atmosphere-breaker like when you fell on us, either…"

"P-Please don't bring that up!"

"I'm so sorry. This is my fault" Rei apologized again.

"No. It's all because of the other me sending Neptune here…"

"…Your constant apologizing is pretty damn annoying, lady" you tell her, Blanc.

"Erm, I-I-I'm sor…!" Rei stps herself midway.

"You're all assuming that they actually _can _go back. Sorry, but I'm not convinced" Noire's acting strong, like always.

"You know, if we don't go back we're going to die in the next hour or so" I lay down the cold hard truth.

"But, but…! Waaaaaaaah! Neppy…!" Plutie over and gave us a squeeze.

"Don't leave me behind, Nep-Nep, Jar-Jar!" Compa comes in as well, doing the same action.

"Or me! I'd rather be with Netuna and Jawed than BerBer!" Peashy does the same action.

"Wh-What!? P-Peashy!" Vert you're worrying the wrong thing.

"Aw, c'mon you guys! Don't grab onto us like this…"

"Hey, they're literally not letting us go…"

"Nobody's grabbing onto me… Ugh, fine! I've gotten used to it by now" sorry, Nepgear.

"Come on, Histoire. Open a path for us. We're wasting time!"

"_You have grown strong, Nepgear_" Histy compliments.

"Not by choice…" that's sad.

"You should prepare as well, Neptune. I am sorry you cannot say farewell properly, but…"

"Nope, it's cool. You get it, right, Plutie?" Neptune peels Plutie off of her.

"Uh-huh, but it's still sad…"

"I don't get it at all! I don't want you to leave!" Compa shouts from the bottom of her heart.

"Me neither! I hate it!" Peashy shouts with her.

"C'mon you two, not like we three are going to our deaths here…" I pet their heads.

"Compa, Peashy, don't make this any harder for Nep and Jared" Iffy said.

"…I'm doing _my _best to keep a stiff upper lip, after all" Iffy became strong. And that's by choice. I'm proud.

"Geez, I'm trying to tell you that we don't know if they can even go home or not" Noire, you're in denial.

"…I think your eyes are getting a little watery" Blanc pointed out.

"N-No they're not! I just… um… yawned a second ago!"

"…Then why would you deny that your eyes are watery?"

"I know you must be hurting inside, but we need to get home, Sis" Nepgear said.

"Yeah… I know. Okay Histy, hit the lights!"

"Neppy…"

"Neptuna! Jaweed!"

"_I will begin the process now. Jared…?_" another holographic screen pops up, showing a screen with some meters.

"Right, I'm monitoring power now" with the laptop, I can see the power grid that flows throughout Planeptune. And with the holographic screen, I'm able to see how stabilized the portal is. The medic teams, are running independently so I don't need to hold back when I need to cut some power.

"_Alright, then. Imagine yourselves releasing all the shares you have collected…_"

"Okay… Like this?" Nepgear closes her eyes, puts her hands close.

"Summoning… a cool aura, maybe?" Neptune does the same.

"Haaaaaaaaah!"

"Hoooooooooooh!"

I feel the tailwind blowing. In the corner of my eye, I see a small sparkle of rainbow sprinkles. I watch it carefully as it flows with the wind, heading towards the two and coating their outlines in rainbow sprinkles. Their outline shine in an array of colors that flashes brighter and brighter. With each rainbow sprinkle that coats them, the tailwinds gets stronger and stronger, as though watching something about spirited away.

"_Okay. Now I will turn those… Wh-What is this? This is far more than I expected…_"

"So we can…?"

"_We can succeed! With this many, it can be done. I am certain!_" that's some good news in a long, long time.

"_Jared! I'm doing it now!_"

"Okay" I turn my attention back to the laptop and start rerouting power as fast as I could.

I see that power levels are rising higher and higher. If it reach a certain point, then the power grid is going to automatically hit to the breakers causing a nationwide blackout. I tried to switch it manually, but it needs some double authentication and I don't have time for that. First, I cut power from several blocks first, and look at the holographic screen; it's still not stabilizing as expected.

"Histy. Do something on your end"

"_I am. We've already got a blackout as it is!_"

I reroute more power, causing more areas around Planeptune to lose electricity. I can see that our electricity levels are getting dangerously high and it's still rising. And on the other side, our portal that is yet to be come out, is not stabilizing at all. I cut some more, but it's not stabilized enough.

"How big is this thing!?" I ask knowing that there's only a couple of blocks left. I cut them…

"_I don't know! But because of the amount of Shares, it's bigger than we both expected!_"

"Crap! " ...but it's not enough.

Every last house in Planeptune doesn't have power flowing to them. Heck, this very room is the only room that has power throughout the whole nation. Damn it, and our power usage is still rising.

"Damn it…! Huh?" wait, what's that?

I thought I cut Planeptune's power grid except this room. But why is it that, I'm able to see that power is leaking somewhere. And heck, we're leaking some pretty big power here. It's like we're powering another city or something.

"Wait a sec…!" I started tracing the grid. It didn't even last a second to know what was eating our electricity.

"Oh you smart bastard!" even when you're dead you still give me some pain inducing headaches.

Following the flow of the current, I see that they're being taken to several hundred step-down transformers. And from there, they'll be taken down a notch to safer voltages. And these safer voltages are ones that you see at home where they're literally thousands of them that my screen is filled just by listing them all.

Eden's been eating our power ever since it was made 10 freaking years ago. Even now, it's is still eating our electricity right under our noses.

"Hehe… good show, you piece of tin can…" I cut Eden's power.

"_Jared! It's stabilized! And there's enough power too! Now the portal can be opened!_"

Then in the middle of the room, right in front of the sisters, something opens up on the floor. Slowly it opens as an intense light peeks out from the cracks. I squint my eyes, watching the process as it goes. It slowly but surely get bigger and bigger, the outlines moves like water and its light gets brighter and brighter as it gets bigger and bigger. And then suddenly without warning, it gets big in a matter of a second, releasing a large portion of light, blinding everyone in room.

"Kh!"

"Wah!"

"Waaaah, I can't see!"


	160. Chapter 160

Chapter 160:

"…Did it work?" Blanc asked putting down her hand.

"I guess it did. But we got to this point last time, so…" Noire answered.

"Jar-Jar, Nep-Nep. Did they leave already?!" Compa looks around.

"Naw, I'm still present and accounted for. But, uh… Jared?"

"Yeah… wow…" I have no words for this.

"This is kind of a problem, isn't it?" Nepgear adds.

"Wh-What the heck!?" Noire finally gets what we're staring at.

"Wooooooooow! It's big!" Compa is taken aback.

Yep, the portal's big. Too big. The ones that Big-Histy and I made back then pales in comparison to the thing here. It's so big, that I can see a clear bird's eye view of Gamindustri of our dimension it's quite a sight to behold. But sadly, I can see dark clouds looming over one part of the super continent below so it kinda kills the picturesque scene.

"It's soooooooo different than when Neppy Jr. fell on Noire!" that's because it is.

"Awesome! It's so big!" Peashy runs.

"Nope, you're are not diving in there" I grab her by the collar.

"…You might end up falling on someone like Nepgear did" Blanc said.

"Please stop bringing that up!" Nepgear is embarrassed.

"Histy, Histy. What the heck's going on!?" Neptune demanded answers.

"_I… would like to ask you the very same question…_" even Big-Histy is baffled.

"_Neptune, Nepgear. What sort of mischief have you two stirred this time?_"

"That's the poorest way to put it in the history of putting things poorly! We did nothing wrong, right Nep Jr!?"

"Mhm. We just did our best to get as many shares as possible" Nepgear supports.

"_It's probably from…_"

"It's probably because it's being powered by two futuristic cities then add in the amount of Shares that we have…"

"_That's what I thought as well_"

"Ummmmm, if this thing's this big, then maybe instead of just you three…" I get was Plutie is saying. And she's wearing a brighter tone now.

"Indeed. Could all of us pass through?" Vert finishes her question.

"_You could, yes. In fact, you may be able to travel between the dimensions whenever you please…_"

"Which means…"

"We never, ever have to be separated from Nep-Nep and Jar-Jar again!?" Compa finishes Iffy's thought with glee.

"Neptuna and Jaweed won't go away!?"

"Mhm! Even if I walk into the light, I can come back whenever I want" Neptune assures.

"_Well, I cannot guarantee the 'whenever' aspect…_"

"Pea wanna go! Pea wanna go!"

"Mhm! Let's go together Peashy!" Nepgear said.

"Jeez. You got everyone all emotional for nothing" Iffy feels relieved.

"Whee… This is great, isn't it, Neppy?" Plutie said, hugging Neptune, crying her tears of joy.

"Waah! Don't you cry on my watch!" Neptune rubs her back.

"I'm… I'm so happy… Waaaaaah…!"

"Whoa there" I pet Compa's head, crying on my chest.

"_Nobody is listening to me…_"

"See? I told you it was pointless to create such a serious mood. I knew this would happen"

"…You're trying way too hard. We feel relieved, too" Blanc puts a hand on Noire's shoulder.

"_Is it safe to have created a gate like this? We may have stepped into forbidden territory_"

"…Too late for that"

"I agree" I was able to peel Compa off of me.

"You cannot delete something you have already created" Vert adds.

"_That may be true…_"

"We don't have time for this! We gotta deal with the whole world-ending plot right away!" Neptune said. Reminding us of the current plot.

"_Yes, I understand. We will deal with this in due time_ _and there is nothing more promising than having all of you join together_" she adds the last part with bit of hope in her voice.

"Hwaa… That almost sounded sappy and stuff, but there's no reason to be sad with this thing!"

"Aren't you the most relieved…" I grasp her hand, as we both stand near the edge. We stand and watch the scenery below. Now we can…

"Alright! Let's all hold hands and skip into the gate! To the other Gamindus-!"

"WAIT!"

"Aww, come _on _Iffy! That was the most energetic end to the scene. Why're you butting in?"

"No, if all of you travel over to that world, what happens here?"

"Oh… Good point" Noire said.

"This world has its own share of problems, doesn't it?"

"I'll stay here, but I don't think I can do that much all by myself…" Compa said.

"I'm just an information agent. It'd be best if we left one person in charge of each nation"

"…That's not a _bad _idea, but…"

"Whoever remains behind won't get the spotlight in any of the final scenes…" Vert adds to Blanc statement.

"You're worrying the wrong things…"

"I'm going, because I said so!" Peashy is a kid through and through.

"Ummmm… Sorry, Neppy Jr., but…"

"Wh-What!? Sis and I have priority seating on this flight!"

"I told you guys, you're worrying the wrong things here…"

*BRRRRR!* *BRRRRR!*

Finally. My phone vibrates in my pocket, I take it out and look at the caller.

"Oh finally…" I accept the call and put it on loud speaker.

"_Yoooo! With the help of my friends, we're here to help out our friends who are in a pinch!_" putting my phone on loud speaker was a bad idea.

"…I know this needlessly loud voice" Blanc is surprised.

"Copypaste!?" Nepgear uttered his name.

"_Ooh! We've called because this guy called us!_"

"And you're late, you can opener…"

"…Big Brother is really prepared"

"_Ahaha! Let's not sweat the small stuff! But destroying the world, really? You were a bigger deal than I thought, Rei!_" I don't think my speaker will last.

"N-No, I'm nothing special…" how humbling of Rei.

"_Bwahahahaha! MODESTY! Leave this side to us. Feel free to travel back and forth as you like! Go!_"

"He said to go but, uh…" Neptune looks at me, completing her question.

"I also asked a few more people…" I answer.

"I have Mister Badd, with his daughter supporting him, take care of Lastation and Lowee. And, one more, plus one vermin…"

*BRRRRR!* *BRRRRR!*

"Oh, another call, wonder who might that be…" I accept the call, making this a group call now.

"_Hey, I've brought the food, what now?_"

"_Oooh! It's Arfoire!_"

"_Of course, it's bad business for me, if we don't do something now_"

I found out that Arfoire is running a farm now after her last faced off being a giant eggplant. Although she still wants to exact her revenge, she's working diligently to keep her profits high. I might be considered an assist to her end goal, but I bought all the freshest harvest she has and have her help with the food supply for Planeptune's civilians.

"Waaah! It's the old lady!?" Plutie said.

"_Kh! If it weren't for my business I would have stuffed that mouth eggplants!_"

"Eggplants!" Iffy is still scared of eggplants.

"_I don't mind not being useful. But I'd rather not walk around at such a dangerous time, chu_" a squeaky voice comes out of the speakers.

"_Shut it! If you have time to talk then you have to put down those crates!_"

"_And Pirachu! Now we have the strength of a hundred FRIENDS!_"

*BRRRRRR!* *BRRRRRRR!*

"_Don't leave me out of this!_" a little girl's voice echoed loudly. It's Abnes.

"How the hell did you get this number? I didn't even called you…"

"The little girl!" Neptune said. She probably forgot her name.

"_Don't call me little girl!_"

"_What are you guys still doing here? The children of both worlds are in deep trouble!_"

"Well, we've been trying to leave for quite a while…" Nepgear said.

"It's like a game of whac-a-mole, but instead of animals, more people keep popping up"

"_No excuses! I don't get the whole situation, but I'll protect the children on this side with my life!_" that sounds reassuring.

"_So hurry up and do whatever it is you're supposed to do!_"

"Abnes…" Rei is enamored by her conviction.

"You've gotten a bit overconfident. Oh well, at times like these we do need some…" I breathe in then exhale.

"Alright. Arfoire and the rat, go deliver those food to the medic team. If they're suspicious, of you show them the text I sent to you earlier. Next, Copypaste and Abnes, go to Leanbox. If anything happens, guide everyone out of that island. Understand?"

"_Right!_"

"Also be wary of clones of those 4, they're a bit stronger than the original. Heck, one of you might be happy that clones exist…"

"_Hehehe. Now I can finally get some payback!_"

"She really does have a grudge…" Nepgear said.

"Alright, I'm cutting the line"

*BEEP!*

"*Sigh*…I've got my work cut out for…"

"…It's amazing how you managed to gather them in a short time" Blanc said.

"It's just like Jared to do something like this" Neptune compliments.

"I'm amazed by how they're easy to convince…"

"Aren't they missing one person? Noire's been tensed during all of it" Vert said.

"I-I'm not! I-It's not I'm expecting to hear his voice come out all of the sudden!"

"Anonydeath? Well, he's a sly one, so I didn't managed to call him" I said a flat out lie. I'll them the news after everything's over.

"If this many are hanging out back here, it should be okay. Right, Iffy?" Neptune asked.

"They're former enemies, so I'm a bit hesitant, but…"

"Let bygones be bygones. Yesterday's enemy is today's friend as they say. And also they did tell me one more thing… Rei…"

"Y-Yes!" I stretch my hand with my phone on my palm.

"They said that they need you to lead them…"

"B-But…!"

"You're still their boss. And they won't complain…" she looks at the phone and back to me and back to the phone.

"…They'd still listen to me, really…?"

"Of course. After all, in the words of Copypaste, they're your precious comrades, right?"

"*Sniff!*…Mhm!" she finally shown a smile of determination and take the phone.

"Also, please give that phone back. Or I'm going to have you pay it…"

"Jared whatcha waiting for! Let's all go!" Neptune waves at me, the rest of them are all lined up before the portal.

"…Oh yeah, what do you think of CPUs now, Rie?"

"I think… it's fun" she answered.

"I see…"

I head over to the portal, and line up with them. I grasp Neptune's hand beside me, and she returns it as well.

"Hey there…" I greet her.

"Mhm. It's almost time…"

"Yup. It surely is…"

"So what are we waiting for…?" with a clear objective in mind…

"Let's all rebel against the end!"

…we jump down to the portal.


	161. Chapter 161

Chapter 161:

99.898891293

"Waaaaaaah!"

"Neeeppppuuuu!"

*BRRRRRRRRR!*

"Ugh… Damn… that was a rough landing…"

"Nepu!? Where's Jared? Jareed!?"

"You're sitting on me"

"Nepu! Have you taken Noire's role!? That's out of character of you!"

"I did it so you won't get hurt…"

"Awww, what a caring fiancée… there, there…" she pets my head.

"I appreciate you petting my head, but I'd appreciate it more if I'm not being sat on"

"A-Are you saying that I'm getting heavy?"

"…I didn't. Although, it does seem like it"

"Nepuuuuuuu!"

"Before you of scream in misery get off of me" I'm pretty much conscious of my weight so I know how that feels. Neptune continues to scream in misery as she gets off. I pick myself up.

"There. Let's see… is this mud? No, wait, it smells… oh for fucks sake…" I think I landed on poop and now my clothes are smeared with it.

"What's that Big Brother?" Nepgear appeared in front of me. She seems fine.

"…The worst thing imaginable"

"Uwaa, that's unlucky…"

"I know" I take off my shirt.

"You don't happen to have some laundry soap with you?" she shakes her head.

"Oh well" I wanted to make a joke that she should make device that can print out soap. But I forgot we're dealing with Nepgear, she'll literally abandon everything and consider it making it.

"But, you're coat's fine. Maybe you should just button it up…"

"Nice advice" not like I haven't thought of that myself, though. Sometimes it's good to be in the receiving end.

"Hey, why is Jarey taking off his shirt?" Plutie asked.

"It smells and I need to wash it. In any case, where are we? The forest near Planeptune?" judging by how thick the black is, we're probably close to Planeptune.

"No doubt about it! This is my old stomping ground. Ahh, I'm getting nostalgic…" Neptune said.

"Neptuna's world! Neptuna's world!" Peashy runs around.

"I'm glad we arrived without a hitch. I expected someone to magically land on me again"

"Is that really something you should come to expect?" Vert said to Noire.

"…The path back to our world doesn't look like it'll vanish. We can go back anytime" Blanc looks up. In the sky above us, you can see a shift in color around a certain area. If you look close enough, you might see that it's a ceiling.

"Okay, enough chatting. We need to find out what's happening" Noire said.

"Mhm. I'll call Histoire and see where they are" Nepgear pulled out her device. I think it's called the N-Gear[-clarification] and started fiddling with it.

Worrying that my shirt might smell, I look around for a minute to find that there's a river. Assuming that I won't be able to find some washing machines or any laundry soap to use wherever it is we might go, I'll just wash it with water first then remove the stains when the opportunity arrives. I head towards the river dip my shirt under the water and started scrubbing it. The poop peels off leaving only a stain.

"…Ugh, this is kinda disheartening no matter how you look at it" I was thinking of putting a positive spin into it but it doesn't seem to work.

"Whacha doin' all naked and stuff?" I noticed that Neptune is sitting next to me. Watching me wash my shirt.

"Topless and apparently, I landed on poop…" she's going to laugh.

"Ahahaahhahaha! You landed on poop! Ahahahaha!" I knew it.

"Are these the cheeks that's laughing at her fiancée's misfortune, huh!?" I pinch her cheeks. My shirt's safe if anyone's asking.

"Nefu! Yaah!" she's retaliating.

"…You're not going to best me...!" I do want to pinch even harder but instead I pinch her nose and pull it left and right.

"Neepppuuu…!" she tackles me, I get pushed down.

"Mmm~~" she fawns over me like a cat.

"You sound cheery, despite the world being like this…" I pet her head.

"Because, because… we can finally…!"

"Hahaha. I know. I know. But first, we need to deal with the world end scenario… We can talk about anything else afterwards"

"Mhm!" a picturesque smile.

"Got it! Histoire said there's a safe house near here" Nepgear announced.

"Time to get going, then…" I pick myself and Neptune up, squeeze the shirt of excess water and wear my cloack.

* * *

"Yo, Big Histy! We're back!"

"Histoire!"

"We're back, Histy"

"Oh, you three! My goodness… Yes, welcome home!" our fairy friend on a book greets us back like a mother would to their children. It's been a while since I've last heard her voice other than through the speakers.

"O-Oh dear, please refrain from grabbing onto me like that!" unable to contain herself, Neptune grabs the fairy and hugs her as tightly as she can.

"Welcome home, Neptune"

"Woooooow, Big Histy is soooooo big…" Plutie is surprised.

"Huh? Histy grew up?"

"My, Histoire. Don't grow up so fast and confuse poor Peashy" Vert you're spoiling the child too much. Even I didn't spoil her this much.

"Don't be afraid. She's the same Histoire at her core" Nepgear assures the child.

"Okay… Can I touch her?" Peashy starts poking.

"Welcome, all of you. Even though this world is in a desperate time, you still came…" Histy welcomes us all.

The safe house where we're all at, which more or less looks like a vacation home than anything, is tucked in by some trees and is sitting near the river downstream. It's made of logs, which I assume is Nara, piled over one another. The insides are simple, there some computers and other high-tech things on the right side. On the right is a television, a big flat-screen one, and a couch positioned optimally for good viewing experience. Over at the far right, is a staircase that leads to the second floor, and on the far left is a kitchen and dining area.

"Hehehe… is it alright to say 'nice to meet you'?" Plutie asked.

"Don't worry about us coming. The problem originated in our dimension, anyway" Noire said.

"…Not to rush you, but this isn't the time for niceties" Blanc adds reminding the urgency.

"Correct. Allow me to summarize our current situation"

"What's going on? There's a lot of noise here?" hearing a familiar voice, my eyes follow the source of it and found a girl with twin pig-tails and in a one-piece dress standing at the foot of the staircase.

"Guests…?" a timid voice enters our ears, as a little girl, wearing a blue and white overcoat with white puffballs and a pink handbag on her shoulder, joins in.

"Not fair! How come Histy always gets to have fun!?" another one comes down the stairs, wearing the same as the last girl only difference that it's a pink and white overcoat and a she has a blue handbag.

"Whaaaa! It's Nepgear! And Neptune and Mister is back too!" Ram shouts at the sight of us three.

"Yay! It's Rom, and Ram, and Uni!" Nepgear is delighted.

"We're back! Sorry for the delay!" Neptune greeted.

"We're back" I greeted.

"Hey! When did you get back!? You were supposed to hurry up and tell me the moment you returned!" Uni complains as she draws closer to Nepgear.

"I missed you, Miss Nepgear…" Rom runs towards her.

"You're a real jerk for leaving me and Rom here!" and so does Ram.

"Aww, goodness, I'm sorry… Wait, you're all closing in on me pretty fast…" Neptune takes a step back.

"Hehe, I feel like it's been ages since anyone has made a fuss over me!" good for you, Nepgear.

"Wooow, Neppy Jr. is soooo popular over here…"

"Geez. These miniature adults definitely prefer Nep Jr"

"Um, pardon me, everyone. I am about to explain something rather important…"

"No use, when they get like this, it's going to take while. But feel free to try, I'll be taking a bath…" I walk.

"Ah, wait, Jared! The baths upstairs and there's a change of clothes for you"

"You really shouldn't have bothered with the clothes part"

"With all that you've worked through, I feel that I can do at least this much"

"…Hrm… Oh well, Thanks, I appreciate it. I'm going now…" I headed upstairs. Leaving the rowdy group in their merry ways.

Once I arrived upstairs, I'm met with a glass table and a bonsai decorated neatly one the wall opposite of where I'm standing. There's a paper bag placed there, with a note saying: change of clothes. Taking the paper bag, I look around for a second and found a door right next to where the top of the staircase is. Taking a look inside reveals a bathroom, complete with a washing machine, a tub, a shower, and a toilet.

"…Time to get myself ready for the party..."


	162. Chapter 162

Chapter 162:

"Gotta give props to Histy, not that bad…" I take another good look at myself.

I'm wearing a black knee-longed coat, which there's a split from the bottom middle up to my waist area, that layers my long sleeved shirt, and my buttoned up black vest, which only covers up my stomach area. The collar-end of the coat has a belt buckle for cosmetics. The black tie that I wore is tied shorter than the traditional, giving emphasis on both my vest and tie itself. I wore a pair of black leather pants, which I have to wear a brown belt since it's a bit loose, a pair of brown- steel toed shoes and a pair of brown-thin-carbon-based finger less gloves on my hands. I also have a loose chain that is attached on the front belt to my wallet which is at my back pocket. And to top it off, I'm wearing a fedora hat.

"Simple yet dandy…" makes me excited to see what I'm going to wear next time.

"Since I'm all set, I better get down there…" leaving the bathroom, I headed downstairs and immediately I'm met with a fierce shout of a desperate woman.

"No! About thirty minutes _have_, however! No matter what I did, none of you listened to me!" Histy shouts at the top of her lungs.

"I'm sorry. I got caught up in the moment…" Nepgear apologized.

"Pssh, no need to get all moody" Ram I think this is not the time for you to have fun either.

"Aww…" Rom is sad.

"Is Histoire angry…?" Peashy asked. Ain't that obvious.

"There, there. You didn't do anything wrong, Peashy" Vert you're spoiling her too much.

"I told you that they're going to take a while"

"Woooow! Jarey's all suited up!" Plutie claps her hands.

"Is there a grand party somewhere?" Vert asked.

"Party? Party!" Peashy said.

"As a passerby, I should always dress for the occasion" I answered.

"I don't think wearing suit and fighting a final boss ma… No, wait, I think it does" Nepgear changes her statement.

"Mhm, mhm! Jared looks cool in these! I'll give you my Neptune seal of approval" Neptune said after she made one circle around me.

"Ooh, thanks. I'll try my best next time for another seal of approval"

"Aww, I want to have a seal of approval too…" Plutie is jealous as always.

"…You have to dress up for the occasion" Blanc said.

"Eeh, but I don't have a dress!"

"I do know a dress shop in Leanbox. Let's go over there when we have the time" I do hope that dress shop still exists. Well I did give the owner a good scare last time, so I hope she didn't do anything drastic.

"Yay! I'll get to dress up to!" great, now I have a rival.

"Urrggg! You are all always like this! I try to be a diligent helper and you all screw around!" Pisty, Neptune's rubbing on me way too much, lectures.

"Hang on a sec. We were in the wrong, but this isn't the time to lecture us, right?" Noire said.

"…Let's not waste any more time" Blanc adds.

"Urgh. It pains me to hear that from you all, but you are right. I will briefly explain our status"

"Rei Ryghts used a mysterious power to destroy Planeptune" that doesn't look and briefer than that.

"Through Jared's and ours efforts, we've managed to stop a war to happen from the Citizen's Rights Group"

"Why'd you mention him?" Noire asked.

"That is because he has contributed the most in countering such an event. Despite, his circumstances"

"Tell that to the people that did the grunt work. In any case, continue…"

"It happened a few hours ago, but had you listened to me earlier it would have been minutes ago"

"Uh, let's just move on to that too…" Neptune requested.

"Around that time, a barrier was erected in the city and copies of all of you began prowling around" does that include a copy of me?

"To assess the situation, I have sent out the other CPUs" an obvious choice.

"The CPU Candidates were on standby here until you returned. IF and Comap are guiding the people to safety"

"Standby sounds official and all, but we were just abandoned here like we needed to be babysat… *Sigh*"

"Cheer up, Uni…" Rom pets her head.

"Pea's going to do that too! Pet! Pet! Pet! Pet!"

"Uwaah! You're patting my head, not killing a bug! You'll mess up my hair!"

"…Do you truly intend to derail this conversation?" a stern question.

"Sorry…" the three chorused.

"What of my boys?" I ask.

"I have them tend to the evacuated"

"That's good…"

"Any word from Noire and the others?" Nepgear asked.

"None. The bombardment of the city has ceased, so I feel as though they have made some headway…"

"As expected of us, I'm sure"

"Wow, you three are doing so well…!"

"Yeah! Big Sis is awesome!"

"…Then, we could just leave it to those three, couldn't we?" Blanc asked.

"Not a snowball's chance in my mouth! If we do that, I won't look like the main character!" Neptune is worried about her identity.

"And, they're dealing with clones, you all know how annoyingly strong they are" I'd imagine that with just those three, they're going to get stuck being surrounded by clones.

"This is someone who transcended dimensions to attack our world" Noire adds.

"…I know. I'm just saying"

"Any case, if things stay as they are, Planeptune may be destroyed! You all must hurry, and…!"

"Okay! I don't need to be told to save the day or whatever" Neptune answers.

"…After this whole conversation, I think the sense of urgency has been lost completely"

"I've been away for a while, but it's my duty protect my nation!" a diligent Nepgear.

"If it were just Planeptune, I wouldn't really care. But this threatens our whole world" Noire is still Noire.

"I'll fight with someone who looks like my sister… I'm going to try my best…!"

"Hehehe… We get to meet the Noire and Blanny and Vert of this world. I'm so excited!" you're priorities are all wrong, Plutie.

"We can come too, right?" Ram asked.

"I don't wanna stay here…" Rom said.

"Ram should go! Should go!" Peashy said.

"Of course. Let's all go together" Vert allows.

"Since everyone's going then, sorry Histy you'll have to work a little before you're going to get some reprieve…" I apologized. I was hoping at least Uni would stay, but since she's decided I can't exactly tell her not to.

"Not to worry, a little more work should be fine…"

"Alright. Tell Compa and Iffy to head near the barrier, if they're still civilians that they need to guide, relay that to the boys, they'll do something about it"

"Okay"

"Next, make someone take post from where we've landed. Relay that to Nepgear's device if there's any backup clones along the way…" she nods.

"And for the last one…" I beckon her to come near me.

"Hm?" I whisper a few other key points of the plan to her ear.

"Th-That's…!"

"It's fine, it's fine… I'll pay for it, I'm a passerby after all…" I do hope I still have enough money…

"When I hear such a thing from you, I can't help but leave it all to you…"

"Oh, is that right?"

"Hey, hey. Stop with the Histy, Jared thingy. We're going to leave you, you know…" Neptune interjects, pulling me away.

"If I don't do at least this much, we aren't going to get our ending, you know…"

"I don't think you should say something that would raise death flags, Big Brother"

"Big Brother!?" Uni reacts.

"Mister is Nepgear's Big Brother…?" Rom tilts her head.

"It's a complicated story you two, but we'll talk about it later…"

"Now then, ladies…" I take the lead with Neptune beside me, the rest follows behind.

"Let's rock and roll!"


	163. Chapter 163

Chapter 163:

"I think this city was a bit nicer before I left…"

"What the heck is all this!? It's totally jacked up!"

"How awful… Our city…"

Planeptune isn't looking too swell right now. Buildings destroyed, rubble everywhere, and smokes coming from somewhere. Once there were skyscrapers that reaches the ends of the skies, now they're just a pile of rubble. Those blue tubes that are used as fast transport, they're sections are scattered everywhere. Planeptune's main roads are wide, now they're narrow from the devastation. I can smell iron in the air. Minimized casualties is different than no casualties at all. The smell of blood is most probably coming from the rubble.

Planeptower, which is the highest building and the most noticeable is now a shadow of what it was before. There are black smoke rising from the building itself. The remains of the sword-esque shield at the front is just the base. The giant veranda's that you see on the side have broken off; one of them has only half left hanging. And lastly, I can see a red thin-like bubble that is coming from the center of the city. Judging by how big it is, it looks like it covered most of the area and is only a few short klicks away from where we're standing.

"Boss. Sorry, I can't go with you any further…"

"It's fine, it's fine… And don't call me boss, we're disbanded remember"

"How could we ever forget the boss that gave us work?"

"Fine, I give. Sit rep"

"Hooraah, we've mostly got the citizens out of the city, right now we're just tending to those that are injured"

"Right. Now get out of here, people need your help…"

"Hooraah!" the previous gang member, starts up the jeep that we just rode, and then drives away.

"Whooooa… Neppy lived in a totally jacked up place like this, huh?"

"I figured the city would be kind of messed up with you in charge, but… To think it's like this…" Noire isn't all that baffled.

"No, it's not supposed to be like this! It's not all my fault!" Neptune said.

"It was a nice city until yesterday, but…" Uni said.

"I know. I was making a joke"

"A joke…? No way that my straight-faced sister would ever make a joke…!"

"Is the other me really that stiff? Hearing that from her little sister is pretty telling..."

"Ahaha. She only acts like that when Uni is around, really" Nepgear defends the Noire of this dimension.

"…Then how about me…?"

"Eep…!"

"Awawa! Rom!" Rom hides behind Nepgear's skirt.

"The untamed Rom in its natural habitat, camouflaging itself in Nepgear's skirt…" Neptune described.

"She's not a _Chamaeleo zeylanicus_"

"Waaa, Blanny's little sister is so cute…!"

"…Shocking, really. How does the other me even interact with these two?"

"They admire her. Rom's just very shy and knows you're not her real sister, so…" Nepgear answered.

"Come on, we can sort all that crap out later" Noire reminded us of our objective.

"Yes, let's hurry up and stop the Rei from this world!"

"You say that we should hurry but…"

"We need to deal with… her" Blanc and I look at the three that are well, just having fun.

"Whoa! So much stuff is all busted up! Ahahahaha!" Peashy shouts on top of some tall rubble.

"It's pretty neat to see, huh? Let's explore the ruins with Rom later!" Rom said beside her.

"Peashy dear, it's dangerous to climb up there Please come down!" Vert shouts from the foot of the rubble, but to no avail. And she's right, it is pretty dangerous for a kid, like Peashy to stay there for too long.

"Peashy! C'mon, get down here!"

"Oh? Okay!" noticing my voice she comes down.

"Ah, wait up!" Rom follows up.

"Be careful now" I don't think I should be very worried, Peashy's smart at times…

"…Wah, Mister just tamed her…" Rom said.

"She only listens to Big Brother…"

"…I think this is called assuring once dominance" Blanc said.

"It's called proper parenting"

"Uuh, even though I care for Peashy, she still listens to him…" Vert is depressed.

"I'm here Jaweed!" Peashy runs to me with a big grin.

"Good, good. I'll pet you as a prize…" I pet her head.

"Hue, hue…" she giggles.

"It really doesn't feel like we're going to the final battle…" Plutie said.

"Wow. Even Plutie's mumbling the 'sense of urgency lost' stuff now" Neptune said.

"But she's not wrong! We gotta buckle down and get all serious for now! Yeah!"

"If you want to get serious, I suggest doing it now"

"Nepu?"

*BANG!*

"…!"

*CLASH!*

"…"

"It isn't nice to sneak up on us…" I said as the clone takes a stance.

"Nepu, Nepu, Nepu, Nepu!"

Allow me to explain, this here Purple Heart-clone tried to just do a sneak attack on my fiancée. Being the passerby that I am, I kicked a rock to intercept with its sword. The clone then jumps back and takes a fighting stance similar to Neptune's.

"We're surrounded…!" Noire announced.

"I know…" I look around quickly; at least 50 of them.

"…I'm scared…" Rom said.

"Don't worry…" Nepgear assures.

"…What are we going to do?"

"Isn't the answer obvious? We'll just plow through 'em!" Neptune said.

"But taking one down takes time let alone a herd of them…" Vert said.

"Vert's right, it's not the time to fight them…"

"B-But how should we get of here!?"

"I've been looking for one ever si…! There…!" I found our escape route.

*BANG!*

"Jared!"

"Tch…!"

A Black Heart-clone suddenly lunges towards me from the side. Pushing the others to the side, I hold my hat, so it won't fall off and duck under its sword swing. I swing my left leg from behind me and kick her in the gut, performing a high back-kick.

"…!"

"Get to the sewers now!" I shouted. The clones that are on the side have started to make their move.

"We don't have a choice on the matter!" Vert said.

The group runs towards the manhole, lifts it and puts it on the side. The moment they did, they pinch their noses.

"It stinks! Jared do we really have to go!?" Neptune shouts.

"We have to. Want to be minced meat?"

*BANG!*

"Damn…!" another one dashes forward. It swings it sword down, I move to the side, dodging at the last second. The sword hits the ground, and I put my foot on it.

"Gotya…" I twist my body and perform a roundhouse kick on the clone's head. It tumbles to the side, leaving it's sword to me.

*BANG!*

*CLASH!*

A black heart-clone charges in. I take the sword that the previous one left behind and block the attack. Then, I heard another clone breaking the sound barrier from behind me. I move to the side and a sword swing down from behind, digging deep onto Black Heart-clone's shoulder. There's no blood but I feel that there's no strength.

With my sword I push the sword, that one that came from behind me, up, and kick the dead clone away. I take a step back and as I twist my body to face the clone behind me, I swing my sword at it, inflicting a deep wound. I put my foot forward and stab the clone right in the gut.

A Green Heat-clone charges towards me, I use the clone that I stabbed like a shield to block the oncoming thrust. I move my body to the side as the spear stabs through the dead clone like cheese. I rush towards the attacker and grabs the wrist that's holding the spear. I strike its chest with my palm and at the same time, puts pressure on her on her H-6 and L-8 points to involuntarily take its hand off the spear. Pulling the spear out of the dead clone, I thrust it immediately towards the staggering clone.

"Jared!" Neptune calls from mouth of the open canal manhole.

"Right!" I pull the spear from the dead clone and threw it at some random clones.

I make a break for the manhole as Neptune disappears giving me room. The clones gets where I'm going and tries to hinder me. Nearing my target, clones appear in front of me blocking me. I slide under them, directing myself towards the manhole. Like flowing water, I drop off on the manhole, not forgetting to cover it with the lid. I land safely…

"Holy shit, that's one unholy smell…" I pinch my nose.

"This was your idea…" Noire reminds me.

"…Guh, it's going to get on our clothes"

"I told you this place stinks!" Neptune said.

"Really now. There should have been a better idea" Vert said.

"If there was, I should've said so"

"…I think I'd prefer being surrounded by clones…" Blanc said.

"Uuuuh… I'm getting dizz~~y…" Plutie said.

"Uwaaa, Plutia get a grip!" Nepgear holds Plutie upright.

"Ram stinks! Ram stinks!" Peashy shouts.

"Hey, you smell too!" Ram retorts.

"…I want to take a bath…" Rom said.

"In any case, let's just suck it up until we see another manhole to come out from" even I can't stand the stink. It'd be a waste on the clothes.


	164. Chapter 164

Chapter 164:

"Puaaaah! I'll always remember to thank the fresh air from now on" Neptune said as I pull her out.

"Make that a habit…"

Finally escaping from the clutches of the foul smell of the sewers, we've risen back to the surface. It took me a while to recognize this place, because of the devastation, but we're a few blocks away from where we were ambushed by the clones. Although it's not any good to be in this area right now, but looking around closely there aren't any clones standing by.

"…It's a good thing the smell didn't get on our clothes" Blanc's worried about the smell.

"…Uuuuuhhh… My head was all dizzy~~" seems Plutie is still out of it…

"Where are we going now, Big Brother?" Nepgear asked.

"…I figure that we should just head forward…" I said, taking a look at the barrier which is pretty close from here.

"Hmm… Does anyone have some binoculars or something?"

"Um, I have a rifle if it's alright…" Uni said.

"Even better"

Uni summons a CS5 sniper rifle. The CS5 or McMillan CS5 is a bolt action Sniper Rifle. It is designed as a compact and concealable precision tactical rifle in urban settings. It is chambered for the 7.62x51mm NATO cartridge. This one doesn't have a suppressor.

Looking through the scope of the rifle, I found a clone stationed on the rooftop, 120 meters, of a building. 2 clones, at about 100 meters, at the front doors of the building adjacent to earlier, another in the alley, 90 meters, and another by the window of the building next to it, 110 meters. It isn't that solid, given that there's a number of rubble here that I can use as cover. But it's hard to use the main road with this many people without being seen. And I'd rather avoid fights, we need all the energy that we can.

"Alright… Uni, if I'm right, you like guns right?" I read it in Histy's book.

"Well, more or less…"

"I'll be your spotter. Wanna have a go?"

"But how can you spot without a scope?"

"I'll manage…" I overclock my brain.

"S-Sure…" Uni takes the rifle from me.

Assuming a crouching a stance, she brings the rifle up and peeks through the scope with her right eye. And as she looks through the scope of potential targets, she makes small adjustments to her from. The air around her changes as she perfects her form.

"First, the clone on the rooftop. Shoot the edge of the roof to bring its attention…"

"Okay…"

*BANG!*

The bullet grazes the edge of the roof, the contact between the cement and the bullet causes a spark. The clone on the roof notices it and just looks. It's probably thinking of what just happened. Then slowly it walks over to the edge investigating the phenomenon.

"Once it reached the edge, shoot its knee to topple it forward and when I give the signal, shoot the head next"

*BANG!*

Suddenly, the clone's knee gave out, and it topples forward uncontrollably, leaning forward dangerously.

"Now…"

*BANG!*

Its head was forced back to the edge of the roof, its body bending backwards like a dead marionette. But because of how its body bent, the legs fall over the edge following the rest of its body. And like a puppet which has its string cut it falls lifelessly towards some rubble to the ground.

The two clones on the ground suddenly turns their heads and walk towards the clone that feel to the rubble. I take look at one sitting in the alley, seems that one is also moving. And the one on the window as well.

"Good, let's get out of here… Let's head to other street and circle around the barrier…"

"What was the purpose of that?" Vert asked.

"Testing out a few things"

I lead them to another street through the alley. I stop and take cover at the corner of the building and check our surroundings. There's a fallen building blocking a direct headway to the barrier. And there are a few clones stationed. Two of them, one is stationed near the rubble of a building, the other clone is patrolling on our side of the street.

If I take out the clone that's coming for to us, then I'd be seen. But it's risky if I let the clone pass. I need something as a distraction.

"There aren't some of them on the buildings…" Uni suddenly said.

"…Nice, good info" I reflexively said. Wait, buildings…?

"Ohoho… Neptune, confident on your window breaking skills?"

"Mhm! We always break windows whenever I play baseball"

"Take this rock right here and throw it to any window on that building…" I point for her.

"Okay!"

"Uni, need your help here again… Shoot the first clone you see on the left after I take off…"

"U-um, okay"

"That's so unfair, she's taking the spotlight" Rom said.

"…You'll get your chance soon. For now put up with it" I said.

I take a peek and the clone that's patrolling is just a few step closer now. Neptune readies her best pitcher's stance and Uni moves closer behind me. The clone is a few more steps to the trap… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…!

Neptune threw the rock and it smashes the window on the 3rd floor of the building opposite from us. Then I noticed that the clones didn't even bother.

*KSSSH!*

"…!"

"Pickaboo…!" I suddenly appear in front of the clone and twist its neck, hearing a cracking sound as I do.

*CRACK!*

In the corner of my eye a clone turns its head towards me as it the clone I just twisted its falls down. It gets ready for battle position when…!

*BANG!*

"...!" still pokerfaced, a something flew towards its forehead knocking it backwards.

"Hrm…" I stand for a minute and observe my surroundings.

"What's the matter?" Neptune asked as her head peeks at my face.

"Nothing…" Oh...

"Uwaaa… We can't get through here…" Plutie said as she gazed at the collapsed building.

"…Let's take another detour…" Blanc said.

"We should but who knows if we get unlucky in the next encounter…" Noire said.

"Unlucky or not, we need to get going…" I said.

We head through another alley that was opposite from where we came from. At the end of the alley, is a building with a hole on the wall to the second floor. I run the wall and catch the edge, I pull and push myself up to the said floor. I give it a quick look before turning to the others.

"Just like before, kids first…"

Vert being the tallest of the bunch, lifts Rom up. I grab from her sides and pull her up. I did that with Ram and Peashy. Next, I pull up Neptune, Nepgear, Blanc, Plutie, Uni, Noire then lastly Vert. Once everyone is accounted for, they take a quick breather as I assess of what we're going to do next.

"Damn, there really is a bunch of them…" I take a peek at the window, and the road that is building is face has a lot of rubble and even more clones.

"…And we're not getting any closer to that thing…" our target is the barrier but with this many clones standing in our way, this'll be difficult.

"…We can't avoid a fight if we stay sneaking up like this…"

"Ultimately we're going to have to fight through some... but…" I take a look at the street that we just came from. From here I can still see the clone that I've taken out.

"Okay. Plutie go and relieve of yourself of some stress…" with a smile on my face, I tell her that.

"Eeeeh!?"

"Really!?" Plutie seems excited.

"J-J-J-Jared!? Are you crazy!?"

"I'm still sane, Neptune."

"B-B-Big Brother! I know this is desperate times but…!"

"I know what I'm doing…"

"…S-So why'd you allow something so forbidden…"

"She's only going to take it out on clones…"

"B-But what if she comes over to us. Who knows what would happen to us!?"

"C'mon Noire, have a little faith"

"P-Please reconsider we might not make it out of here!" Vert begs.

"No way"

"Hey, why are you afraid?" Ram asked innocently.

"I-it's hard to explain… b-but there's a really good reason" Nepgear answers.

"Okay, Plutie head down there and relieve some stress"

"Ooookaaaayyy! Here I go…!" Plutie transforms.

" 'A~ah, having someone say that I can do whatever I want sends shivers down my spine!' "

"S-Somehow the air's gotten really cold…" Uni said.

"Brr~~!" Rom shivered.

" 'A~ah, little Rom's so cute~~!' "

"Eep!"

"Hey, hey. Not the child, please. We might get censored"

" 'I'm joking, I'm joking…' " it doesn't look like one when you're face is all serious.

"Anyway, take care of those clones over there. But make sure you stay on one spot and let them come to you. Don't whip them at a distance, and do them when they're really close to you…"

" 'My, such specific orders what am I going to get in return?' "

"You'll have the honor of eating Neptune's puddings"

"Nepu!? Not my pudding!"

" 'Hmhmm, pudding eh? It's sweet but I like something bitter…' "

"Sorry, that's the only prize you get"

" 'Well, I can go and relieve myself…' " walking past us, the madam, heads over to the broken wall that's facing the street. With her wings sprouted, she lifts herself up and lands gracefully with an air of dominance around her. The clone takes notice of her, and they all summon they're weapons.

" '…Now, entertain me!' " the madam let's her stress loose.


	165. Chapter 165

Chapter 165:

"A~ah… That was refreshing!" Plutie said.

"Glad you enjoyed it"

"Nepu~uu… Th-They're getting along…! Jared's a bully, and Sadie is… Sadie…! I-Is this the birth of a new duo!" Neptune asks, almost crying. And no, I prefer if that doesn't happen.

"...I-Is it over?" Rom asked, scared.

"…I-I think so…" Nepgear takes a peek at Plutie. Upon the sight, she heaved a sigh of relief.

"Ugh, I-I don't think I can stand one minute of that any longer…" Uni said.

"…I seriously thought we were in purgatory…" we're still alive and breathing Blanc.

"Oooh! Look at all the piles of clones!" Ram said.

The Madam had just the time of life, I hope I do, of relieving herself of some pent up stress. She did as I asked her to, surprisingly, and she leaves the street with a mountain of dead clones in its wake. Of course, given that it's the Madam that we are talking about, she did leave us some impressions. For example, all this took only 10 minutes. But she laughed maniacally for 10 minutes. Endless laughter as she takes the clones down one-by-one.

'_In truth, I thought I might go insane and laugh like that endlessly…_'

"So… what's the reason why you released Plutie?" Noire asked.

"Hm? Oh, it's because of that…" I point to a distant rooftop, what remains of it that it, to a building not too far.

"Hmm? What?" Noire doesn't get it.

"Pro tip: Look closely"

"…Is that a clone of me…?" Blanc said.

"Yup. And no, I'm not interested in clones of Blanc"

"…I don't know if I should be relieved or not…"

"But I don't know if you notice but it hasn't moved even once when Plutie started"

"…A bug of sorts?" Vert asked.

"More like stupid engineering. It seems that the clone doesn't move from its place like how normal people do, despite it being called a clone"

"So…? The clones aren't all brightest in the park?" Neptune said.

"Disappointingly. They're not the most sharpest among the knives" I answered.

"Unless they see their target or if they're clone buddy gets killed within a certain perimeter, which I assume is just 10 feet, they won't even budge…"

"Eeeh? So if we shout as loud as we can…" ooh, this is unexpected. Plutie is catching on!?

"They wouldn't care… For example, Ram, try sneaking up to the clone in middle, there's a inverted car there for you to hide. Then shout as loud as you can…"

"Eeh? That stinks, that's all I have to do?"

"Sorry kid, next time. Alright…"

"…Do your best, Ram…" Rom cheered her twin sister on. How cute.

"Mhm!"

Ram jumps from the broken wall and carefully runs down the rubble. All though a little girl like her shouldn't really do such things. I figure, since she is an energetic type, just let her release some energy. She lands on the ground and hides behind and upside down car. The clone doesn't notice.

"YOU BIG DUMMY!" she shouts.

"…" the clone doesn't respond.

"Nepu! It doesn't do anything at all!"

"…You observed that in just 10 minutes?" Blanc asked.

"Technically, that was more driving my hypothesis home" I answered.

"Oh yeah, and also they're peripheral vision is just terrible. Hell, I can even tell you that we can just walk pass them and they wouldn't notice us…"

"Ooh! It's like we're wearing the sheet that makes us invisible except we're not!" Neptune said.

"So we can safely get to the barrier without fighting?" Nepgear asked.

"If you follow my lead. Of course we have to take down a few clones to get their attention. But nothing too difficult, I hope…" I just hope when they turn to face their fallen clone they don't turn the wrong way.

"Okay! Let's all follow Jared's plan and get to that barrier!"

"Oooh!"

Jumping down from the building through the hole in the wall, we slide down from the rubble and headed towards the street. Ram followed up with us.

* * *

"What's wrong with me? Why am I alone at a time like this?" hrm? Did I just hear something?

"Didja hear something?" Neptune asks me. Guess I'm not the only one who can hear it.

"This is an important job and all, but it didn't _have _to be me…" I hear it again. A ghost maybe…

"…SSh… It's coming from that corner over there… " we peek from the corner of the building.

"B-But I don't mind being alone or anything. I'm used to it. So… So this is fine…" the ghost's attire consists of a maid-like black top with golden trimmings and white frills around her upper arm and chest, and also reveals a certain portion of her cleavage. The ghost's skirt is white with black trimming and is rather frilled compared to her top, and goes down to her lower-thigh..

"Uh, is that my…" Uni notices who that ghost is.

"Getting treated like this before the final battle…" the ghost continues.

"Wanna get a closer look?"

"Mhm!" Neptune nods and we proceed to walk quietly towards the ghost.

"I mean, maybe it's a tenny-tiny bit lonely for me…"

"Oh, I thought it was a ghost moaning, but it was just you talking to yourself again" Neptune said.

"…" Noire is silent.

"Noire… I see…" does Nepgear feel pity? Her voice says she does.

"Whoooooa, its Noire!"

"Sis…" the scales must have befallen before Uni's eyes.

"Eh? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"I think I said this so many times. Indoor voices please…" my ears are ringing.

"Wh-When did you all get here!? Did you hear all that!?" this-Noire stuttered.

"No, we didn't. We honestly just got here" Nepgear answered.

"…Hmm, I thought I heard the wailing of a lonely girl" Blanc thought.

"I think it started with a line that says: 'What's wrong with me? Why am I alone at a time like this?'"

"Th-That was basically all of it! Forget it! Forget everything you heard!" Noire said.

"That's impossible, woman…"

"Just forget it, now!"

"Y-You! Don't you dare look like me and make such weak and embarrassing things!" that-Noire said.

"I can do what I want! I don't need to hear that crap from someone who looks like me" this-Noire retorted. Okay… I'm getting confused.

"A… Hm? Wait… This girl…"

"Yup. Noire meet your other Noire…" Neptune introduced.

"It's hard to grasp stuff if the two are the same, so let's call this one Pseudo-Noire for real" Neptune said for easy understanding.

"It feels like I haven't heard that in a little while, but seriously, stop it" Pseudo-Noire said as she approached.

"Huh? You brought her, too? How about the others? Are you gonna rename them, too?" Noire is simply confused, probably thought that she was the Pseudo one.

"Whoa, how about the Noire duo stop approaching me at once?" Neptune steps back.

"This would only happen with the Noire twins. They act the exact same way" Vert said.

"Two Noire…? Who's the real one?" Peashy asks.

"Oh c'mon, that's easy! I mean, it's… Well… Tell her, Rom!" Ram asks her twin for help.

"Um… I don't know…"

"I can kind of tell them apart, but when they're together like this, they're so similar…" Uni said.

"It's like looking into your reflection and suddenly your reflection came out of the mirror…"

"…Isn't it supposed to be the television?" Blanc asked.

"If that happens and I'll just pull out the plug"

"How lucky... I wonder if I have a twin, too…" Plutie said.

"That'd be terrible…Worst even…"

"It's not really a good thing. I hear that if you see three of yourself, you will die…" four, Blanc.

"Huh? Noire's gonna die…?" Peashy became very worried.

"So if we see Big Sis and Vert, they're gonna die…?"

"N-No, of course not! As long as it's only two, they'll be perfectly fine!" Nepgear quickly answers for Rom.

"We did fight clones of Noire though…" I pointed out.

"Oh, you're right Big Brother… So does that mean…?"

"We are looking at a ghost" I conclude.

"No, I'm not!" the Noire twins chorused.

"Nice chorus" since they're tone and diction sounds the same. You'd hear it as though it was coming out of one mouth, only is, louder.

"Back to the original point, what're you doing here all by yourself, Noire?"

"Don't point out the all alone part! I'm not alone because I like it!" Noire retorts.

"So why…?" Plutie follows up.

"Look. There's a barrier here, isn't there?" she points to a line on the ground. A thin line, but glistens in white and lavender and red. If it wasn't for its property it'd be very hard to see.

"I'm concentrating my powers on it so I can crack a hole in it so people can escape"

I did notice from when the Madam was taking her sweet time relieving her stress that there was a hole in the barrier. Thinking that it might not be a trick in the eyes, I decided to check it out. And voila, it was worth checking it out.

"You're essentially our doorstop" Vert frankly said.

"…How honorable" Blanc said.

"Hat's off to you, Noire. Literally" I take my hat off.

"I'm not a doorstop because I want to be! But I lost in rock, paper, scissors, so…" you became a doorstop.

"Those two definitely cheated! There's no way I would've lost if they weren't whispering!" psychological warfare.

"I think you're probably the second-cutest doorstop I've encountered, Noire" who was the first then, Neptune?

"What's that supposed to mean!?" Noire said.

"Yeah, I can't let that one slide!" Pseudo-Noire also.

"Whooa, I warned you ladies not to trudge toward me in unison!"

"My sister doesn't look very cool today…" Uni said.

"Really? Isn't she always lame?" Ram adds.

"She's always like this" Peashy is honest.

"Eeh!? She's like this even when she's not around me!?" Uni's scales is really falling, huh.

"You _do _have pretty good timing. Now I can participate in the final battle!"

"So… Someone switch with me"

"Thanks for this, Noire. Really" I said, passing her.

"Noire, Please keep up the stellar work you're doing here" Vert said as well, doing the same.

"Let's go, everyone! We need to catch up with Big Sis!" Ram's voice cheered and everyone walks pass our doorstop.

"Huh? W-Wait, how long will I be here all by myself!? Someone please switch with me!"

"So you say, but if the party gets all switcherooed now, the reader will get confused" Neptune said.

"Even my monologues can't save the readers from such a thing" I add.

"…It would be annoying to have two Noire's around" Blanc said.

"S-Sure, but… Hey, back me up!" Noire plea's for Pseudo-Noire's opinion on this.

"Um, do your best… I'll try hard for your sake" oh, she just abandoned herself.

"What!? So in this situation, I would abandon _myself!?_" hearing that sounds wrong.

"It's decided. Let's roll, everyone. We'll be fine if we leave this to Noire" Neptune said as we all take a walk towards the goal.

"Um… Is this really okay?" Nepgear asks, uncertainly.

"Don't worry about it too much, Nepgear"

"Sorry, Sis!" Uni apologizes.

"See ya!" Peashy waves goodbye.

"Bye bye. We're going…!" Plutie waves with her.

"W-Wait, let's at least play another round of rock, paper, scissors! I… I said wait!"


	166. Chapter 166

Chapter 166:

"This is a pretty sight to look at"

"There's so many bodies of clones!" Plutie said.

"It must be our Big Sis!" Ram said.

"And the other me" Vert said.

We're just a few more blocks away before we reach Planeptower. From here, standing on top of a tall rubble, you can make out the small open area in front of Planeptower's front door. And the street below, littered with broken cars, tubes, and rubble are also littered with befallen clones. The scars on the asphalt, and on the surroundings tells the whole story.

"Let's hurry. They're probably tired right about now…"

Sliding down the rubble to the ground, we made our way to one of the alleys between some buildings following the scars of battle in the environment. Exiting the alley, my eyes fall on a giant fissure on the earth. Extending from the middle of the asphalt to one of the buildings in the opposite street, ultimately collapsing.

Turning left, we're met with more dead clones. Judging from how they inflicted damage to the clones, seems like this area marks the early stages of their fight. Looking around for a second, I found more battle evidences. That to me, is a trail of where they might be right now.

* * *

"…" the clones comes out of their hiding and readies their weapons.

" 'Damn! What _are _these things? They just keep coming…!' "

" 'They are no threat individually, but when there so many, I cannot see this ending well…!' "

"…" the number of clones that appears have increased.

They've been brawling with these clones for the past hour. Vert and Blanc of this dimension have taken down many despite the difference in sheer numbers. Their battle with the clones have taken them far from the place where they're fight began as they endlessly take down wave after wave.

" 'We're making little progress. One of us should hold them off as the other moves on. Agreed?' " Vert suggest. Knowing they're fight here is meaningless.

" 'I'll gladly go on ahead if you sacrifice yourself here' " Blanc sarcastically answers.

" 'I cannot agree to that. I lack the confidence that I will beat them all by myself' "

" 'I don't wanna say it, but me too! SHIT!' "

"…!" the clones all rushes in on the two.

" 'For now, we've got to stick together…!' " and another wave of clashes begins.

They're job here is simple. Deal with the clones. A simple, easy job to save the day. Though simple as it may say, the job was far from it. Their fights with the clones are almost endless. Would it have made difference if Noire was here? The answer to that is no. Wave after wave, the clones attacks the two as though it was its sole purpose. And in return the two takes them down one after the other. Until their fatigue are slowly creeping up behind them.

" '_Haa… haa… _How many was that…?' " Blanc asked, putting down her weapon for a while as she takes advantage of the small window of a breather in between the waves of clones.

" 'Who knows? I counted to fifty and then stopped, because it was getting ridiculous' "

5666"…" then before them, a single clone appears. Its features a black, one piece bodysuit with high heels and traces of magenta on the legs, torso, and arms which is also accompanied by a set of matching earrings and a choker..

" 'Never seen that one before' " Blanc said standing up.

" 'A new challenger. Even if their appearance changes, I doubt their fighting ability will…' " and just as Vert says it.

"…" the clone grins.

" '…!' "

" '…!' "

Something cold runs through their spine like someone pouring cold water on their back. A chill like any other. They jump back instinctively, takes their stance and observe the challenger. The air around it feels sadistic, like that of a snake taking its time to observe its prey. As though the two were really nothing more than just prey to be chewed and be feasted on.

" 'Wh-What the hell!? This one seems different than the rest' " Blanc said.

" 'I think so, too. I have a bad feeling that she will be quite dangerous foe to fight…' "

"…" the clone walks.

The air of danger around it, plus the fact that this is their first time taking on such an opponent left them standing in their place. It's not an exaggeration to say that their legs are shaking.

" 'Sh-She's coming. Do something!' "

" 'You're better suited for enemies like this' "

"Hey, I see Blanc and Vert!" a shout from a cheery voice regains their senses. And the clone stops in their senses.

" 'That voice… Neptune!' " the duo turns their head.

* * *

" 'Your lazy ass finally returned home, huh?' " Blanc said, a tone of relief upon seeing us.

"We thought you could use the help"

" 'Heh, you're late' " we share a small smile.

"I'm sorry we're so late… Whoa! In front of you! Is that…!?" Nepgear caught the site of the clone that before the duo.

"Hoooooorraaaaaaaaay! I finally get a copy…!" Plutie celebrates with enthusiasm.

"It's Ploot! Ploot!" getting caught up in the mood, Peashy also celebrates with her.

"It's nothing to celebrate! Sh-She doesn't have the same personality, does she!?" Pseudo-Noire worries.

" 'You _know _this bitch!?' " Blanc asked.

"We do, apparently" I answered.

" 'In that case, may we leave her to you?' " Vert requested.

"Okey-dokey… She's aaaaaaall mine…" Plutie volunteers.

"I don't really wanna have work passed off to me, but…" Neptune is breaking a sweat.

"I don't either… Goodness, I can't believe I have to fight Plutia again…" Nepgear is as well.

"I really don't want to ruin this new suit before we get to the final boss"

"Judging by their looks, this is the first time they've encountered a Plutia copy" Pseudo-Vert concludes. I'll call them Pseudo in monologues, since they're from the other dimension. I'll change that in the near future.

"…Yeah. And they're lucky for that" Blanc adds. Lucky, indeed.

"Hmhm! We've seen Plutia transformed in battle, so this isn't anything new!" with an air of superiority, Ram thus said.

"Let's show Big Sis how awesome we are, Rom!"

"Uh-huh…" Rom nods.

"Um, that one's all transformed so…" Plutie glows…

" 'I need to extend the same courtesy!' " she transforms, walks towards the stage with smile plastered on her face.

"Eep…!"

"Woops… There, there…" Rom quickly runs over to the nearest person, which was me, and hides. I pet her head to relieve her.

"No matter how many times I see that smirking face, I can't get used it" Uni said.

"Pro tip Uni, don't get used to it. Better yet, don't get used to her"

"Only having to see her make that face from afar is a blessing, actually…" Nepgear said. Her shaking has stopped.

"This'll be a fun brawl. Sadie versus Sadie! It's a dream match!" it's the matchup of the century, Neptune.

"…It's more of a nightmare than a dream" Pseudo-Blanc said.

" 'Huh? Wait. Are you on the same side as this thing? Neptune, do you really hang out with her?' " Blanc asked.

"Uh, yeah. It's kinda funny, but there were various circumstances, so…"

" 'Hmm? Is it better if we're not allies? I could play with you if you'd like, Blanny…' " the Madam takes a step closer to Blanc.

" 'Whoa, stay back! Not another step!' " scared, she literally jumps away about 10 meters.

" 'Your opponent is over there, remember? Look at how anxious she is to face you!' " Vert points her to her clone.

"…" no, it doesn't look like she's anxious.

" 'Mmm, she sure is, isn't she? I wonder what kind of face I'll make when I torture myself' " the Madam summons her whip-sword. Her clone is as well.

" 'Ahahahahahaha! This will be such a wonderful experience!' " and with a voice almost as though she is singing, she whips at her opponent.

*CLASH!*


	167. Chapter 167

Chapter 167:

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

" 'Ahahahahahahahahahaha!' " a maniac laugh echoes loudly.

"…!" the clone whips its whip-sword, parrying the other whip-sword from whipping at it.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

They continue their series of clashes. Sparks fly in between them. The cracking sounds of whip after whip loudly reverberate around us. The echo of the Madam's enjoyment repeats over and over. As though it's aim is to sunder the very stars that twinkle emphatically.

" 'Oh my, oh my! Is that everything my copy can do?' "

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

" 'You can at least do a bit more, right!?' "

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

"…!"

Their ensemble of whip clashes continues with greater speed and in intensity. The Madam's sneer is getting wider with each clash of their weapons. The surrounds area's around them, the fallen clones in between them all get scarred from their assault.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

*CLNNG!*

Suddenly their whip-swords gets caught on one another. Both are twisted against each other.

" 'Oh? Done with foreplay?' "

"…!" the clone pulls the madam with all its might. The madam openly get pulled and sprouts her wings to fly straight towards the clone. She retracts her whip and its segments quickly reassembles into a sword.

*CLASH!*

"…!"

The clone manages to block the madam's weapon. Although, not fully retracted to a sword, the first segment had reattached to the base at the nick of time and used it to block. The madam's face is taut with ecstasy.

" 'Let's enjoy the main thing together!' " the madam shouts.

Taking a step, she quickly uses it as pivot and spun around to the swing her sword from her shoulder. The clone thinks quickly and steps back missing the swing by a hair's length; her weapon has turned into a sword. The madam swings her weapon back up, releasing the whip of her weapon just as her opponents weapon reassembles into a sword.

"…!"

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

Each segment of the whip were blocked by the clone as she is pushed back. The segments reattach, and the madam lunges towards the clone.

*CLASH!*

Their weapons meet above the clone's head. The clone tilts her weapon to the side, sliding the madam's sword. Upon the head being leveled, the clone's elbow moves forward, the madam simply moves her head to the side. The clone swings its arm and swings its whip at its original.

*CRACK!*

" 'If you want to make me squeal, you're supposed to be better than that' "

"…!"

*CRNNNNNG!*

" 'Hm?…!' "

The sound of metal bending alarmed the madam. She turns around to see a car heading towards her. The clones aim wasn't the madam but the car behind her. The madam quickly whips at the car cutting it into pieces.

*SCHNG!* *SCHNG!* *SCHNG!* *SCHNG!* *SCHNG!* *SCHNG!*

"…!"

*BANG!*

And just as the car's been sliced into a different number of pieces, the clone behind the madam retracts its whip into a sword and thrusts towards its original. Hearing the sound of the sonic boom, the madam adjusts to the side, raised and chops a hand towards her opponent's wrist, involuntarily letting go of its weapon.

The madam swings her own weapon towards the clone. The clone bends its knees more and leans its body back, dodging the swing. Then she takes a step forward positioning itself behind the madam while regaining its weapon while it was still not on the ground. The clone swings it as a whip.

*BANG!*

" 'Aww, I really don't like it soft. I want it hard just like this!' "

"…!"

Suddenly the madam briefly disappears in front of the clone and reappears behind it. The madam swings her whip, it wraps around the waist of the clone, and pulls it to her. As the clone gets close, the madam moves towards the side, letting the clone continue on its flight via inertia. The madam raised her whip suddenly, raising the clone high above the air and pulls it down.

*BAM!*

The clone hits the asphalt ground, smoke covering where she is. The madam pulls the clone out of its demise forcefully. The whip unwraps itself from the clones waist and the clone crash lands to one of the buildings. Another smoke dust covered it for only a moment, but soon the clone reappears unable to get back on its own feet.

" 'Now then… let's hear how I scream…' " the madam raised her whip-sword, and swings it at the clone.

*BAM!*

The whip swayed back violently, the tip tore apart part of a cement of the building that was right next to the clone. The madam raised her whip once more and swings it back down.

*CRACK!*

"…"

This time, the whip lashed at the clone's stomach where its ribcage could be seen. A dark line formed across its white skin a moment later.

*CRACK!* *CRACK!* *CRACK!* *CRACK!*

"…! …! …! …!"

The madam whips at her clone, a twisted smile forming on her lips. Dark lines, which signifies wounds for clones, appear on its legs after it's leggings tore apart. The clone's face remained pokerfaced.

*CRACK!* *CRACK!* *CRACK!* *CRACK!*

She beats her clone over and over again. The bodysuit were soon ripped to shreds.

" 'Ahahahahah! Come on! Come on! Cry! Scream!' "

*CRACK!* *CRACK!* *CRACK!* *CRACK!*

A hail of lashes rained down upon the clone's skin. Black bruised wounds would appear across its fair skin with every strike of the whip. Its torn clothes provided little to no defense.

*CRACK!* *CRACK!* *CRACK!* *CRACK!*

"…! … … …! … …! …! …!"

" 'SCREAM! SCREAM! SCREAM! SCREAM! SCREAM!' "

*CRACK!* *CRACK!* *CRACK!* *CRACK!*

* * *

"…"

" 'Such a deceptive appearance. It ended not with a bang, but a whimper. How unsatisfying' "

"All we could do was watch, really…" Uni said.

"Yes. Getting in the middle of that wasn't a good idea…" Nepgear justifies.

"Is it… over Mister?"

"Yup. I'll let you go now…" I remove my hands on her ears.

The whipping had lasted for at least 15 minutes. And the clone remains on the building that it crashed landed on the side, whimpering with black cuts all over its naked body. I knew it was going to end up in the whole whipping thing, because it's the madam, I have to turn Rom away from the scene and cover her ears. I had Neptune do the same with Ram and Vert to Peashy as well.

" 'That person was a CPU, right?' " Vert asked.

" 'It'll sounds weird coming from me, but that bitch has some serious personality issues' " it does sound weird coming from you, Blanc.

" 'Oh, the Blanny and Vert from this world are still here. Come and cleanse my palate!' " the madam beckons.

" '...!?' "

" 'Her palate!?' " after seeing such horror from the madam, even they would imagine the dread they'll face.

"Run away! Big Sis, run away!" Ram shouts.

"Big Sis… don't gobble her up…" Rom's tears are appearing in the corners of her eyes.

"Whoa, you better stop, Plutie. Rom is gonna start crying in a sec, and that sucks. Okay?" Neptune said.

"Don't tease Rom and Ram!" Peashy said.

"Quit screwing around and return to your human form!" Pseudo-Noire adds.

" 'Aww, now _I'm _being painted as the villain? Fine. I get it' " she cancels her HDD.

"Whew… That was fun…!" Plutie said, running towards us in light steps.

" 'Heavens. I truly thought that I was going to be consumed for a moment…' " Vert heaved a sigh of relief.

" 'I would rather avoid watching myself getting devoured' " Pseudo-Vert shudders the thought.

" 'These are the types of people you're taming over there, huh?' " Blanc said.

"To tame or be tamed… But look, she's like _this _most of the time" Neptune said.

"Hehehehe…"

"…She isn't a bad girl" Pseudo-Blanc adds.

"…Really? Even though you're me, I can't believe that claim"

"Please continue to doubt it" I add.

"What are you two doing here, anyway?" Nepgear asked.

" 'As you can see, we have been tasked with holding back those copies' " Vert answered.

" 'For being so damn weak, there sure were a lot of 'em. It was friggin' annoying' " Blanc said.

"Hmm? If it made Big Sis tried, it must've been a tough fight" Ram said.

"Are you okay…?" Rom asked in concern.

" 'I'm fine. I'm more worried about my little sisters wearing such pathetic expressions' "

"Eeep… I'm sorry…!" Rom runs away to me. I pet her head.

" 'Oh, um, m-my bad. It came out wrong' " at least she's conscious of it.

"She doesn't know how to deal with a little sister" Pseudo-Noire said.

"…It's so embarrassing to watch, I feel like it's happening to me" Pseudo-Blanc adds.

" 'And as we sat her talking, more have appeared' " I look around to see a number clones coming out from alleys and rooftops.

"Huh? Whoa!" Peashy is surprised by the sheer number.

"Whoo… This number would give you a run for your money…" I whistle in excitement.

" 'There really is no end to this…' " Vert said getting ready.

" 'Nothing we can do. Hey, we'll hold 'em off here, so you all go on ahead!' " Blanc picks up her axe.

"Huh? But…!" Uni became worried.

"Will you two be fine and dandy on your own?" Neptune asked.

" 'How long do you think we're been holding them off before you all arrived?' " Blanc wears a confident smile.

" 'Complete elimination may be difficult, but we will have no trouble keeping them at bay' " Vert adds.

"Vert and Blanc, unlike my sister... are so cool…" Uni said.

"Ugh. Seeing this kid act all disappointed is taking me on a huge guilt trip" Pseudo-Noire confesses.

"I'm sure she's doing her best keeping the barrier open, probably…"

" 'Well, part of it is that we don't really want to team up with _her_' " Blanc said.

" 'It is quite clear to us now that the real thing is more frightening than the fakes' " Vert adds.

"Hmm?" Plutie doesn't know that she's the subject of the last two lines.

" 'Oh, forget I said anything. Hurry, all of you!' "

" 'Crush their bones to dust!' "

"B-But…" Rom became worried.

"It's going to be fine, Rom. We gotta trust our Big Sis" Ram said, petting Rom's head. How nice…

"You heard the two ladies. Let's get a move on!" I said, running first.

"Okay, I'm gonna sprint outta here!" Neptune said, catching up to me, I match her fastest pace. I hear a number of footsteps behind me.

"Fight hard you two…!" Plutie cheered.

"Do your best, BerBer!"

" 'Eeeh!? Did she just adorably nicknamed me BerBer!?' " oh not this shit again.

"Oh, no. I have already placed my preorder for this little Peashy" Vert, again. She's not yours. Nor anyone's.

"Leave the custody battle for later! Look, they're that far already!" Pseudo-Noire said.

" 'Wait! At… At least call me BerBer one more time…!' "


	168. Chapter 168

Chapter 168:

It's good to develop very deep thinking. But it's a bad habit to always think deeply every time. Humans always think of risk and reward. Our minds creatively create multiple scenarios to outdo the former and always lean on the reward. We identify and consider risk into our equation and produce a plan to reach our reward. But, when most people are stuck between a wall and a hard object, it seems almost likely that we become paralyzed. We start to think of 'what if's' and 'maybe's', our minds in ever a chaos.

We take a very leisure walk. Planeptower is right up ahead. Despite how the world looks and how the situation is, or how everything is pretty much rubble leveled, we still put our foot after the other with a light gait. In a way, we're kinda enjoying this.

"~Twi~nkle, Twi~nkle, li~ttle star~"

"~How I wonder what you are~"

"~Up above the world so high~"

"~Like a diamond in the sky~"

"~Twi~nkle, Twi~nkle, li~ttle star~"

"~How I wonder what you are~"

"Yaaaay! Clap! Clap! Clap!" Plutie claps.

"Hmhmm! Rom and I practice that every day!" Ram said.

"…So our Big Sis could hear it…" Rom adds.

"I remember when Nepgear was still new character, she was really trying her best to work and cook!" Neptune adds.

"I'd figure that she only did that because you play games every day…" I said.

"Well, she doesn't play games _all _the time, I mean, she takes breaks and sleep… I wanted to make her happy so…" Nepgear tries to defend her.

"You could just come out and say it"

"So, have you ever showed it off to Blanc?" Pseudo-Noire asked.

"…We haven't…"

"Big Sis was all like, 'I'm working dammit!' and we can't really show off to her"

"…Ugh. I'm sorry for not being a good Big Sister" with guilt filling her heart, Pseudo-Blanc apologizes.

"Blanc is bad to Rom and Ram!" Peashy said.

"Come now, she apologized already" Pseudo-Vert tames the problem child.

"Blanc never really learns to deal with them even with mountain of books in her room"

"…She seriously buys books to get along with these two?" if Neptune's claim is true, then it's just sad. Truly sad.

"…But I'm not any better than this woman here…" Pseudo-Blanc implies Noire.

"Wh-What's that supposed to mean?

"Hrm… For Noire, she isn't really a bad Big Sis. But she's seriously strict on her li'l Sis…"

"Gh…"

"I can't really deny that…" Uni said.

"You're not denying it! Then what was I doing to you!?"

"I'm usually at home doing paperwork while Sis is out doing some quest. I always train by myself and when real trouble does come, she always say to stay at home"

"Isn't that a show of her being worried?" Vert asked.

"Uh, yeah. I get that but, sometimes I think I'm a little bit useless…"

"…Aren't we going to territorial waters here?" I ask.

"Um, yeah. She usually doesn't open up…" Nepgear said.

"...Ugh, I'm that bad…" Pseudo-Noire is having a guilt trip right now.

"Let's change subjects… Uni shoot that clone 7 rooftops from here, on top of a water tank…"

"Okay…" Uni summons her rifle and takes aim.

*BANG!*

With a headshot, the clone falls down.

"After that, a there's a clone right over there, by the entrance, 5 alleys away…"

"Got it"

*BANG!*

"Whoo..." breathing out, she lets her rifle disappear.

"Good job. So where we're we…Hrm? What?" I feel stares on me.

"…You know… Nothing…" Pseudo-Blanc starts.

"Big Brother is a really nice person" Nepgear said.

"Ah…" I think I understand.

"Thanks?" but I'll feign ignorance.

"Hey, what's up with the whole Big Brother thing?" Ram said.

"We've been meaning to ask ever since you started calling him that" Uni said.

"Ah, well, it's nothing really… I just thought… I could just call him that…" her voice is trailing off and her face is getting red.

"Hmmm? It looks it _is _something worth talking about…" Uni's intuition kicks in. A women's intuitions scary indeed.

"Please! It's really embarrassing if Big Brother's here!" her face is really red.

"If that's the case then, Ha!" Neptune suddenly jumps onto my back.

"H-hey, what the…!" I reflexively catch her.

"I'll be covering his ears!" Neptune cups her hands on my ears.

"That doesn't actually help, Sis…"

"Ehehehe… Jare~~d" then the woman fawns on me. She's in high spirits.

"I don't particularly mind you fawning at me, but it's hardly the place to do it with all these people staring at us"

"…Mister and Neptune are cute…" Rom said.

"…Hmmmm? Is it just me or is Neppy a bit more cheery than before?"

"Haa? Hasn't she always been like that?" Pseudo-Noire said.

"…I don't see any difference either" Pseudo-Blanc asked.

"Neptuna is Neptuna!" Peashy said.

"Eeeh? Really? But look, Neppy is all happier and smiling more"

"It's weird that you're sharp in this kind of moments" Pseudo-Vert said.

"I don't mean to kill the mood Neptune, but aren't you jumping the gun again?"

"Hmm? Why? Am I really getting heavy?"

"Why are you always asking about your weight? Didn't we already settle that earlier?"

"Don't underestimate WEIGHT mister!"

"Huh?"

"Before you know it, WEIGHT is going to come down on you before you know it. And when you look at the scale you'll gain a kilo without least expecting it!" she's associating it to a demon or something.

"That's why we always pray to the DIET god's that deliver us from WEIGHT"

"Does it have to be in capital letters?"

"Nepuuu… I can see it now, WEIGHT and DIET fighting in your stomach!"

"Don't turn my stomach into a battlefield or I'll puke"

"Then the war will end with WEIGHT pulling of a GEKWAAAAAAA! and DIET going GUWAAAAAH!"

"Are you trying to make my gut explode?"

"And the battle will end like that"

"Huh? Who won? WEIGHT or DIET?"

"Meh, me don't even know why I'm talking about it"

"You're the one that said that I shouldn't underestimate WEIGHT"

"Oh, who cares. I'm still your adorable Neptune, right?"

"By the time you hit 30 I'll bet that you'd be anything but"

"Mmgmmg… *Nom*"

"Hey!? Are you biting me!?" she's seriously biting my neck!

"Ow! Ow! You're freaking eating me! H-hey! OW!" damn are her teeth sharp.

"O-gh, ghat 'p 'wo 'gully!"

Translation: Oh shut up you bully!

"OW! Dammit Neptune kn-! OW!" she's seriously trying to tear off my neck.

"Puaah… Mm… You don't taste that good… Maybe it needs more ketchup!"

"I'm not food! Ugh, damn that's going to leave a mark"

"Ooh! Hey, look! There's another clone!"

"…Hrm? Where?"

"There!" she points over my shoulder.

"Ah, I see it" it's in the middle of the street about a 4 blocks away. Wait…

"How'd you see that?" she wasn't able to see the 2 that I mentioned before.

"Eeh? I don't know. My eyes were like zoom, and I just saw it there…"

"Hrm…" is it because…?

"What is it?"

"Nothing. We can just go around it since it's just looking at one thing…"

"See. They're just flirting like before" Noire said.

"I guess… But, I swear, Neppy's reeeeally happy today!"

"…Maybe because it's almost time for them to…" Pseudo-Blanc said.

"Oh, I nearly forgot about that…" Nepgear said with a light tone.

"We can hear you guys you know" I said.

"Whatcha talking back there?" Neptune asked.

"Nothing of concern. You can continue having fun over there" Pseudo-Vert answered.

"Okay. So Jared, Jared want me to tell you a super-neato story" we continue flirting. Despite our goal being near, we still want to be enveloped in our own little world.

"'Super-neato' story? Anyway, what's the story about?"

"It's called the Impermissble Love"

"Wow, we're really going into forbidden stuff here"

"There's a certain person who liked hamsters"

"_Mesocricetus Auratus_ are adorable although their lifespan is kinda short"

"The hamster he owned was just so cute. And before he knew it, he fell in love with a hamster"

"Wow. Never seen a person fall in love with hamster before"

"It got to the point where the hamster aroused him"

"Woah! That's really bad!"

"The end!"

"How surreal. Where'd you heard that?"

"It'd hidden in one of Verty poo's beds!"

"She reads those!? Damn… I might look at her in a different angle next time…"

"Aren't they… raising death flags?" Uni asked.

"Mhm mhm" I hear a chorus of people nodding.

"Meh. If Mister and Neptune are talking like that doesn't it mean that there's nothing to worry about?" Ram said.

"It might" Vert answered.

"Sad to tell you guys the bad news, but we're here…" I announced stopping on my tracks and putting my fiancée down.

Looking up, I can see the almost fallen Planeptower. The sword-like front shield has its sword part missing. The multiple towers on the top are all hanging. The veranda on the sides that stands out, have chunks of it gone. A shadow of what it was before I left.

There's an elevated big open area before the main entrance. Mostly it's used for events that the Basilicom holds, like festivals or concerts or ceremonies. And most of the time, people use this area as a sort of park to pass the slow passage of time.

"…Ready?" I ask the girls. All lined up, to my left and to my right.

"Ready" they chorused.

All lined up, we climb the stairs. I hold my hat, as a nice wind blows. My coat sways in the wind like a cape. We make audible loud steps, signaling our presence. I take a peek at the others, confidence and nervousness are mixed within their eyes. But they still keep looking ahead, as though it was a form of prayer.

I grab the hand of the girl beside me. A familiar hand that I've always held, like the pounding of your own heart. And as each time our hands hold each other, a powerful force moves me to prayer. And I always pray the same line over and over:

Please do not be cruel.

Taking the last step to our stage, a great wind blows us our uncertainty away. Facing the only person here, the curtains rise and the spotlights turn to the stage:

The final act begins.

"Sorry to keep you waiting"


	169. Chapter 169

Chapter 169:

"It's Rei!" Plutie said upon seeing the woman.

"Finally!" Neptune said.

" 'Hahaha… I'm so glad you came' "

Standing in the middle of the area, greeting us with a big smile, is Rei of this dimension. By the looks of her, she's assuming her transformed mode because she has CPU powers.

" 'I was worried you would just up and die on the way here' "

"Don't count on that"

" 'Ahahaha, oh well…' "

"Rei, please stop what you're doing at once!" Nepgear said in a nice good front.

" 'Haaa? Stop? But I'm not doing anything' " sarcastic answer.

"Huh? Well, um… Really?" Nepgear's good front gets broken down.

" 'My, what a rude accusation. Even though I've already stopped you're ordering me to stop again' "

"Eh? Ah? Unm… Sorry?"

" 'Geez. If I'm going to get bitched at, I may as well start again at full strength!' "

"Aah! Goodness, no! Please stop!"

"Geez, why are you letting her control the conversation? Grow a backbone!" Uni shouts.

"Uggggh…. Even when I finally returned home, everyone's yelling at me…" this time, it's actually your fault.

"Is Mama acting weird again?" right, this child doesn't get the complicated stuff so she calls this Rei her mother.

"Eh? This dummy's your Mama?" Ram asked.

"Mama? Mother?" Rom digests the word.

"…It's complicated. We'll explain it later" Pseudo-Blanc said.

"So, tell us why you're doing this!" Pseudo-Noire ordered.

"Nobody in their right mind would volunteer to destroy an entire world" oh, Pseudo-Vert. I knew a few…

"Right-a-roni! There's stuff that's cool to do and other stuff that's way uncool to do" Neptune adds.

"Is that so? _You're _going to paint me as the villain, as well?"

"As well…?"

"There you go again, ganging up on me!"

"Hweee?" Plutie is confused.

"Mama…?"

"When the nations fell apart, you pinned it all on me as if it were my fault!" haa? Nations? How does she…? Wait…

"Ahh, it must be nice when you can dump all the blame on others and walk away scot-free!" these symptoms… I remember them…

* * *

_"…The 'Passing of the Torch' ritual… involve passing down the traits of the previous Goddess to the would be goddess"_

_"…"_

_"And by 'passing down' all it really means was 'taking out the good points of that person' in a literal sense"_

_"…That's why I hated that ritual"_

* * *

"Who stepped on her toy cars and pissed her off so bad?" Neptune asked.

"Hang on. This is the Rei from this world, so how does she know about the destroyed nations?"

"…Maybe their memories are shared. Or maybe both memories are getting blended together" Blanc hypothesized.

"'Shared' isn't the right word. More like it was given to her, a copy of it that is…" I said.

The passing of the torch ritual. Remember how Neptune the others became CPUs in the first place. Their mother, Arfoire, gave those 4 a fourth of her power. Along with that power are all the good traits that Arfoire has as a person, therefore leaving only her bad traits in her. And you know how that story goes after that… Didn't know that it can also pass on memories, or copies of your memories…

"This lady… is scary…" Rom said.

"D-Don't worry. She's nothing special. All crazy people act like her!" not all crazy people wants to wreck the world though.

" '_Haa… haa…_ How tasteless of me. I shouldn't get so excited' " Rei said with a slightly blushed face.

" 'So for that very reason, I will kill you all with my own hands!' "

"You didn't even give a reason!" Neptune said.

" 'What a dope. Or are you not even trying to understand?' "

"Speak concisely please"

" 'CPUs should not exist. They are unnecessary' "

" 'CPUs shouldn't be allowed to found their own nations. CPUs shouldn't be allowed to make their own rules. That idea is rotten to the core!' "

"*Sigh*… There's no saving you…" I shake my head as I hold my hat.

" 'Therefore, I intend to reset everything…!' "

"Eeeeeeeh? Ummm… I still don't really get it…"

"So… it's not her fault she failed. It's the system's fault. So basically, 'don't blame me'" Pseudo-Noire gets it.

"Inconceivable!" inconceivable indeed, Uni.

"As an avid gamer, blaming the rules of the game world is a most unacceptable excuse!" Pseudo-Vert said.

" 'If I just remove you… No… Not only you…' " Rei looks somewhere distant.

" 'Those who support me when it suits them and then discard me whenever, these fools must also be reset!' " she must be talking about her Citizen's Rights Group disbanding. Or maybe her people of Tari.

" 'Ahahahahahaha! I'll deal with them slowly, leisurely, and with extreme prejudice!' "

"No way! That's all in the past, isn't it? That has nothing to do with people of today!" Nepgear said.

"Mama, don't do bad things!"

" 'Whether it happened in the past or now is irrelevant. I have lived every day since then…!' "

"You've been living everyday walking backwards"

" 'What, taking pity on me?' "

"Oh no no, don't misjudge. My pity can't save you…" but yours can…

" '…Gh. That's why I hate your likes. As if you know everything!' "

"…" my likes… you don't even know…

" 'You should count your blessings that I'll deal with you right here and now!' "

"Rei, hey Rei…" a slow voice calls for Rei's attention.

" 'What? You want to pity me too?' "

"Um, I accidentally became a CPU, but it's lots of fun and I got to meet all my friends, and, and…"

" 'Don't speak so slowly, dammit! Consider the most salient points and speak in a concise manner!' " you should tell that to yourself that has a minority complex.

"Uh-oh! She yelled at me… Um, well… Basically, being a CPU isn't all that bad things…"

" 'I see. This should be ideal, then. From here on, you will experience the people turning on you' " Rei replied with that as though she hasn't listened to a word.

" 'I'll be gracious enough to end your life before you have to suffer through that! Thank me!' "

"That's why…! I'm saying not to reset everything!"

"…It's useless. She won't listen. Plus, it's really hard to follow what you're trying to say" Pseudo-Blanc said.

"It's kinda simple if you have the time to digest it. But time is not what we have…"

"Not like this is a game where you can talk the final boss out of fighting you. So…!"

On Neptune's cue, the girls glows and their outlines changes. They all assume in their HDD state. In front of me, a sword appears, a futuristic purple katana. I catch it before it falls.

" 'Let's see if you really have the strength to reset it all!' " Neptune said.

" 'I'll show! However, you'll be long gone by then…' "

"She's seriously on her high horse"

" 'Ahahahahhahaha! Too bad! You'll never get to see it!' "

" 'So basically, since you failed as a CPU, you think we're just gonna fail too, right?' " Pseudo-Blanc said.

" 'Dumb bitch. Don't bring us down to your pathetic level' "

" 'Actually, you were pretty much the same way when we met you' " Pseudo-Noire said.

" 'Ugh, who gives a shit!? You all set me straight, anyway' "

"We simply must do the same to this one, now. Are you ready, little Peashy?" Pseudo-Vert asked who for some reason still has not yet transformed.

" 'Mhm! I don't like naughty Mama! I'll get her back to normal!' "

" 'I feel like this is all relating to something we were left out of' " Uni said.

Uni's hair stays in pigtails but becomes white and curls up while her eyes become a bright green similar to Noire's. Uni wears a a black and white two piece bikini-like bodysuit with matching shoulder length gloves and thigh-high boots with 3 inch block heels. She also has a _big_ gun. A _really _big gun that's literally 2 times her height. It looks more like a railgun, with two conducting rails, the ends are painted green, and a zigzag frames in the middle. At the base of the conducting rails, in between them is a green cone. Tee rail gun has gold linings, a big exhaust at the base and scope mounted on a rail scope.

"Don't worry about the details. Also, that is one huge gun..." I try to stay composed.

" 'I'm quite proud of this one' "

" 'I'll tell you all about our adventure after this, Uni' " Nepgear said.

" 'It's unfair that Peashy gets so big when she transforms!' " Ram says the unfairness.

Ram's appearance is similar to that of their Big Sister's HDD. But instead of blue hair it's light pink hair and her eyes are blue instead of red. She wears a one piece bodysuit that is white in color with a secondary color of pink on the arms, legs, and torso. She has a mace on hand that looks more like a double headed shovel with the other one slightly smaller.

" 'I'm jealous…' " Rom said.

Rom's appearance is the almost the exact same as Ram's but with a few differences. Instead of pink hair and blue eyes, she has blue hair, similar to their Big Sister's HDD hair, and blue eyes. Just like Ram, she wears a one piece bodysuit that is white in color with a secondary color of pink on the arms, legs, and torso. And she also has the same weapon.

" 'Do you _ever _shut up!? Fine. Have your final chat, full of non-sequiturs. I'm so kind!' "

"Mmmm…" Plutie just grumbles like a _Rhincodon typus._

" 'What is it Plutie?' " Neptune asked.

" 'What're you doing? You usually transform right around now' " Pseudo-Noire knows how to handle her well.

"Well… I reeeeeaaally thought we could try and make nice with Rei…"

" 'And I'm telling you that there's no way to get through to her' " Pseudo-Blanc said.

" 'Amazing. Plutia would rather talk than use force…' " Nepgear is surprised.

" 'Yet another sign of the impending apocalypse, perhaps. Which would mean we will lose, however…' " Pseudo-Vert now says. When did you transform?

"...You two are so mean!"

"Plutie. Talking to her in her state of schizophrenic mind, isn't really going to work"

"But… But…"

" 'Plutie. This isn't the time to act really slow' "

"I know… Okey-dokey, then…!" Plutie glows…

" 'You're right. There's no need to think of another way. I'll just do what I do best' " …and finally transforms.

" 'I'll break her spirit and then force her to listen to every carefully chosen word I say!' "

" 'Hmph. That's more like it' " Noire says.

" 'Ploot, don't tease her too much' "

" 'Are you all prepared now? I'm getting impatient' " Rei says summoning her staff.

"Haa… Sorry about that, they usually take a while when it comes to this scenes…" not like I mind. In fact, it eases me.

"Now then..." I take a stance one that I'm always familiar with.

"Let's dance!"


	170. Chapter 170

Chapter 170:

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

*CLASH!*

"Damn it all, I hate these things!" the passerby was forced to retreat, as blades comes shooting out from nowhere, forcing him to be on the defensive.

*BANG!*

" 'Hiyaaaah!' " pseudo-Noire lunged towards Rei.

" 'Too slow…!' " with one swing of its staff, a spinning black ball of mist appears before her. It rushes to its target.

*BANG!*

Then Uni shoots, her bullet races through the air towards the black ball of mist. Both projectiles connect and the ball of mist disappears. Pseudo-Noire speeds herself up.

" 'Too slow…!' "

*SCHNG!* *SCHNG!* *SCHNG!* *SCHNG!*

2 blades shoots out in a cross stopping the attack. 2 more blades shoots out, pinning in the sword in place. Pseudo-Noire struggles to remove her sword.

" 'Hah…!' "

From behind her appears Rom, she holds an arrow made of ice, her staff acting as the bow.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

" 'Hyaah!' "

*BANG!*

Vert fended off her share of shooting blades, and had finally seen an opening to strike. Taking that opening, she lunges towards Rei her spear taking the lead.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

"…!" after defending himself against an onslaught of blades, the passerby quickly rushes in towards Rei.

" 'Haaah!' "

Rom releases her arrow, it races through air with utter speed and grace. Noire simply moves her head to the side letting the arrow pass.

" 'Ah, ah… So weak…' " then, a black ball suddenly appears in front of the arrow of ice.

" 'What!?' " the arrow was swallowed whole by that small ball. It disappears and reappears in front of Vert. The moment it does so, it spit out the arrow like it was most disgusting thing it tasted, flying towards Vert.

" 'Crap!' " she was able to dodge the arrow but her trajectory puts her off course of her target.

"…!"

Then the passerby suddenly stops on its tracks. Something was keeping him on the ground, a strong force that pulls you towards the object with the largest mass. In his area, gravity was strong and he can't budge an inch.

"Gravity field…!" he struggles to keep himself standing.

*BANG!* *BANG!*

Nepgear fires her shots at the blades that pins Noire's sword. Able to break two, Noire pulls out her weapon, flies down to the ground and lunges towards Rei.

*BAM!*

" 'Why you…!' " Rei flies away from her spot, Noire's attack hits the ground.

" 'Aaaaaaah!' " Blanc is dangerously above Rei, her axe coming down to her.

" 'Are you an idiot!?' "

Suddenly, those snake chains comes rushing in from nowhere and races towards Blanc's axe. They latch on to the weapon and pull it off of her. Blanc continues to come down.

" 'I still have my fists!' " with clenched fist, she swings it at her.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

Blanc swings her fists in reckless abandon. Although her barrage of attacks are being blocked by the flat side of a sword, it makes the area around them tremble.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

" 'Mama!' " during the waves of attack above caused by Blanc, on the ground, Peashy thrusts her golden claws at her.

*SHNNNNNG!*

The moment the weapon made contact with a blade, Peashy tilt's her claw downward, sliding under the blade. After, she jumps up and raised her claws at her. A blade had already appeared to protect her target. She joins in on the barrage.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

" 'YAAAAAAAAAH!' "

" 'AAAAAAAAAAH!' "

" 'You two are getting annoying!' "

Suddenly, the two jumps away at the same.

" 'Huh?' "

And all of a sudden, multiple ice swords appear above Rei. It took only a moment before ice swords were too many to count. Each sword points towards her, and they all rain down on her with speed of a bullet.

" 'Bet you didn't expect this you dummy…!' "

*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*

" 'Kh!' "

*SHCNG* *SHCNG* *SHCNG* *SHCNG* *SHCNG* *SHCNG* *SHCNG*

Rei summons up a roof made of blades.

*BAM!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *CLASH!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *CLASH!* *BAM!* *BAM!*

The rain of ice swords continue above her. All around her, countless ice blades stab the ground.

*BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *BAM!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *BAM!* *CLASH!*

Her rooftop made of blades are getting a barrage of ice swords trying to pierce her defense.

*BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *BAM!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *BAM!* *CLASH!*

" 'Kh!' "

" 'Let's do it Nepgear!' "

" 'Right!' "

With Uni's shout, Negear and Uni stands side by side and points their respective barrels at Rei. The tip of their barrels are glowing with light.

" 'And Fire!' "

Squeezing their triggers, a pair of beam of light shoots through from their barrels towards their target. Rei conjured a black circle in front of her standing like a wall. Once the beam of light made contact with the black circle, it eats it in. Their beam of light is getting absorbed. Once their attack has finished, the black circle disappears as well.

" '_haa… haa… _Even with that…' "

" '...Kh!' "

" 'Aaah… Honestly, that made me sweat a bit…' " Rei said, fixing her hair.

" 'It's my turn… Think you can handle it…!?' "

Rei swings her staff, and then balls of fires appears behind her like a wall. Against the slight dark ambiance, they're like stars. Countless of them show up, and Rei's grin grows wider as the girls' eyes are watch the scene unfold in their very own eyes.

" 'Ahahahahaha! This time, I'll say FIRE!' "

*BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!*

" Kh, there's too many to dodge!' " Blanc shouts as countless fireballs flies towards them.

"…!" the passerby suddenly stands appears before the fireballs.

" 'Big Brother…!' "

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

"…!" he starts deflecting the fireballs with his weapon.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

Not making a single swing and miss of his futuristic-katana, the passerby parry's every fireball that comes in his way.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

Powerful swings, fluid movements and quick reflexes, his long-experience stands out as he stands his ground.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

Like a rock that stands in the rivers flow, the girls behind the passerby is safe from any kind of fireballs.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

As he parry, he takes a step forward and takes another. He slowly walks towards his opponent, and each time he does, the force of the fireballs keeps getting stronger. Like how the force of the flowing river is stronger when near the source.

" 'Y-You…!' "

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

*CLASH!*

"Heh…!" the passerby smiled.

"Neptune! Noire!"

*BANG!*

Just as he had parried the last fireball, he runs instantaneously.

*BANG!*

" 'Hyaaaah!' " Noire flies down towards Rei swinging down her sword from over her head.

*CLASH!*

And just like before, like clockwork, a blade appeared protecting its master.

*BANG!*

Neptune flies down to the ground and lunges towards Rei. Catching up to the passerby, her lover, briefly, they gave each other a good look in the eyes. Many different messages are relayed back and forth in that moment. Most of which are strategies on how to beat their strong opponent. Reaching to a conclusion, they lock their eyes to their target.

" 'Yaaaaaah!' " she swings her weapon towards Rei's neck.

*CLASH!*

Her weapon got blocked like all the others.

" 'What are yo-!' "

Rei's question got interrupted when the passerby catches up. The passerby jumps high, controlling his trajectory, he raises his weapon over his head.

"…!"

" 'Wh-! Whe…!' "

Suddenly the passerby disappears. In a moment shock and confusion, the passerby manages to reposition himself quickly as Neptune and Noire was limiting Rei of what she can see. He reappears on Neptune's low left, his sword swinging. Rei catches on and quickly conjures up a sword, but the sword is already inches away…!

*CLASH!*

But it was blocked anyway…

"…Heh… Gotcha…" the passerby said.

" 'Wha-!?' "

"MADAM!"

" 'I've been waiting for this…!' " the madam swings her whip at Rei. The tip fluently moves in an arc in the air.

" 'What does that make a difference?!' " she conjures up another blade to block the attack.

"This"

" '…!' " she suddenly turns to him, and he quickly disappears by crouching down. Rei follows with her eyes…

Her weakness was easy to notice, but he needed more proof, as she was relying too much on what she can see. His last strike was the proof he needed. If it were like Anonydeath's blades, then no matter which angle blind side or not, as long it reaches a certain distance it'd be blocked. However, the sword was literally mere inches from her skin.

"Hah!" he swings his sword upward.

*CLASH!*

" 'Guh…!' "

Using the staff as a shield, she blocks the sword. But that strong swing caused her to be thrown up in the air.

" '…!' "

*BANG!*

Noire flies up at the same time. Leveling with Rei easily behind her, she swings her weapon from below.

" '…!' " noticing her behind her, a blade appears to intercept the attack.

*SWING!*

" 'Wh…!' "

" 'Heh…' " Noire's swing was too short. The angle of her weapon was too acute to even call it an attack.

Stunned for a good second, Rei realizes that Noire was faking. She quickly looks around for the real attack and it didn't take long for her to realize what it was. As a whip is about to crack its tip at her head.

" 'Don't mess with me…!' " realizing it was too late to conjure up anything to intercept that whip, she raises her staff.

*CLASH!*

" 'Gh…!' "

The whip of her weapon was strong, just as strong as the passerby's. She was pushed back down towards the ground.

" 'Multiple Beam Launcher! Fire!' "

Nepgear had positioned herself to Rei's right, about a 10 meters. She pulls the trigger of her gun-blade and the barrel shoots out a bright beam of light, timing it rightly to hit her when Rei lands.

" '…!' " she dodged by twisting her body and pulling herself up above the ground.

" 'I got you!' " Uni shouts, her aim is dead on the mark. She squeezes the trigger and a bullet flies out of the barrel.

" '…!' " she dodges the bullet by leaning back.

*BANG!*

" 'Mamaaa!' " the moment she leans back, Peashy flies down her claw raised.

Rei quickly conjures up a blade and Peashy's claw gets blocked again.

*CLASH!*

" 'Haaaa!' "

From below, Blanc launches herself into the air towards Rei. Readying her axe, she swings it upwards.

*SWING!*

" 'Kh…!' " Rei manages to get out danger by leaning back.

" 'Haaah!' " and again from above her, Vert positioned herself over her, her spear thrusting.

*BANG!*

Then she quickly flies back to the ground.

" 'I'm not going to get fooled like that again…!' " she knew that an attack like that might come.

" 'I'll be…!' " and just as she was about conjure up something, she notices something that not right. No, it was always there, but only now did she noticed it. It's cold. Too cold.

" 'What are…!' " and just as she had turn an about face, an object is right above her, overshadowing her.

" '…!' "

She quickly summons up a circle of black in front of her, in her panic she made the black circle too big. The object was swallowed whole by the circle of black. Anymore later than that and it would've been her loss. She removes what she conjured in front of her.

" 'Any more tricks and I'll…!' " and then she saw, hundreds or thousands of ice swords and arrows pointed towards her.

" 'Let's do it Rom! Blades of ice!' "

" 'Mhm! One thousand arrows!' "

*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*

" 'I'll just block everything like last time!' "

*SCHNG!* *SCHNG!* *SCHNG!* *SCHNG!* *SCHNG!* *SCHNG!* *SCHNG!* *SCHNG!* *SCHNG!*

She made blades shootout one after the other in before her. Each of them woven together to become a giant wall of steel.

*BAM!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *BAM!* *CLASH!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

" 'Is this all the tricks you can do, you brats!' "

"You really don't learn, do you?"

" '…!' " and then she realized, that she was focused on the barrage of ice weapons thrown against her.

She can't split her focus from her shield. Individually, one or two swords plus a couple more of others too are okay to conjure up without giving too much focus on them. But with this many blades acting as her shield, just a slight faze on her focus would skewer her with this many arrows and blades.

In other words, she played marvelously into the passerby's trap.

"Shall we get started..." he snaps his fingers.

*SNAP!*


	171. Chapter 171

Chapter 171:

" 'You…!' " realizing that she's trapped, she gave the passerby her murderous eyes. And he returned it with his own set of 'eyes'.

" '…!' "

" 'I'm up first!' "

*BANG!*

Pseudo-Noire charges in, she breaks the sound barrier easily in a single step. Rei opens her hand on the side of the shield, making sure that her barrier would have to keep up during the sandwich of attacks. She faces Pseudo-Noire and blocks her attack with her staff.

*CLASH!*

Pseudo-Noire passes by as she swings hard. She quickly turns, trying to not get caught in the rain of arrows and blades, and lunges towards her opponent with an even greater speed.

*BANG!* *CLASH!*

It was an even louder clash of weapons. Rei flinched.

*BANG!* *CLASH!*

Each pass Pseudo-Noire makes on Rei, he speed and power increases.

*BANG!* *CLASH!*

Rei quickly blocks an attack above her.

*BANG!* *CLASH!*

Then she blocks another on her low 3.

*BANG!* *CLASH!* *BANG!* *CLASH!*

She doesn't give Rei a breathing room. Her speed is now double of the original.

*BANG!* *CLASH!* *BANG!* *CLASH!*

Rei stands paralyzed in place as she defends herself from onslaughts on both sides. She relies on her instincts in battle to fend off Pseudo-Noire's swings.

*BANG!* *CLASH!* *BANG!* *CLASH!* *BANG!* *CLASH!*

She changes patterns each time she makes a pass. Giving Rei an even harder time to defend herself.

*BANG!* *CLASH!* *BANG!* *CLASH!* *BANG!* *CLASH!*

Her next hit made her sword glow in rainbow sparkles. The pupils on her eyes glows, showing a power symbol. For Rei, she can't take any more hits as her hands are already numb. Pseudo-Noire reels in towards her, her intention is as clear as day.

*BANG!* *CLASH!*

" 'Gh!' "

She makes another pass. Rei's weapon got deflected, her hands are numb and she can't move them. Pseudo-Noire quickly turns around and flies towards her in neck breaking speed.

*BANG!*

" 'Kh…!' " biting her lip so hard, Rei was able to regain control of her hand. And black dark flames suddenly envelops her hand. It grows bigger, and bigger until her whole forearm is enveloped in it. It then hardens itself, quickly turning into a claw of black, with red noticeable veins. Pseudo-Noire flies low and attacks in an uppercut.

*CLASH!*

Rei managed to block a deadly pass. But she knows that Pseudo-Noire isn't done yet with her barrage of attacks. She looks up, and saw her with her glowing sword raised above her head. Pseudo-Noire throws the sword towards Rei, she quickly use her claw as a shield.

*SCHNG!*

" 'Huh…?' " but the attack didn't connect on her claw, rather it stabs the ground before her and is standing upright. It didn't take long for her to find Pseudo-Noire standing a meter between the sword, her backed turned. Pseudo-Noire fixes her hair…

" 'Infinite Slash' " and snaps her fingers.

*SNAP!*

Blue lines suddenly shoots out around her target. It cuts everything and anything it touches. Rei quickly disperses her black claw, and raises her open hand into the air. She drops her hand quickly and all around her, blades, too many to count, appear almost at the same time, blocking the blue light from even touching their master.

*CLANG!* *CLANG!* *CLANG!* *CLANG!* *CLANG!* *CLANG!* *CLANG!* *CLANG!* *CLANG!* *CLANG!* *CLANG!* *CLANG!* *CLANG!* *CLANG!* *CLANG!* *CLANG!* *CLANG!* *CLANG!*

At the same time, the barrage of ice swords and arrows have stopped. With a limp movement, she drops her other hand and all the swords that we conjured up quickly retract into thin air.

" '_haa… haa… haa…' _" she gasps air. And her gaze looks up towards us.

" 'If you think I'm through then think again!' " she opens her palm. On the ground, her staff quickly vibrates and rattles on the ground. It suddenly shoots towards her open palm as if magnetized. She catches it.

" 'That's good because we're not done yet! Nepgear!' "

" 'Right!' "

*BANG!*

Nepgear lunges towards Rei's open back. Rei turns around, and slowly at that since she hasn't recovered enough from Pseudo-Noire's barrage, and found a gun-blade homing towards her. Her survival instincts kicks in and she quickly raises her staff.

*CLASH!* *KSSSSSSSSSH!*

Once their weapons connect, Nepgear then pushes Rei with all her might.

" 'Haaaaaaah!' "

" 'Ugh…!' "

Rei was pushed back, putting a little bit of distance between Nepgear and her. Rei looks quickly thinking that she might get attacked into some combo, but surprisingly, Nepgear didn't. She was relieved for a moment… and that was terrible move.

*BANG!*

That slight pause was the opportunity that Uni was waiting for. She readies her giant railgun of a weapon, and peeks through the scope. With target dead ahead, she squeezes the trigger.

*BANG!*

" '…!' " quickly realizing her mistake, Rei spins around ready to conjure up anything to intercept the bullet. But when she takes position, the bullet was already mere centimeters before it hits her.

*CLANG!*

" 'Gaaaah…!' " she manages to block it with her staff, and surprisingly it's far resilient than they all thought. However, it sent her flying up in the air.

" 'Let's do it, Uni!' "

" 'Right!' "

They both point their weapon at Rei who's high above. Rei's body is slowly failing her from keeping up with what her mind wants. A golden opportunity for the two.

*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*

Both of them squeezes their triggers in succession, like the sound of a percussionist in an orchestra that keeps the rest in tempo. The bullets flies towards their target. Rei forces her body to listen to her and conjures behind her are balls of fire.

*BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!*

Each of them homes in on their desired bullet to intercept.

*BOOM!*

An explosion occurs in front of her. The smell of gunpowder tingles her nose and the explosive light of the gunpowder makes her squint her eyes. The smoke quickly spreads, embracing her inside.

*BANG!*

" '…!' " but it didn't take a while before that smoke disperses and reveals her, as a beam of light suddenly shoots through the smoke. She was lucky that it missed her by a few inches.

" 'We got you now!' "

" 'Multiple Beam Launcher Overdrive!' "

" 'Cr…!' "

Nepgear on the ground and Uni in the air, both weapons are already locked onto her and both of their Iris' have glowed to clearly see a power symbol on them. She quickly thinks for a way to save her from this dire situation. Her body's numb and is slowly getting more fatigued anymore and she knows that she won't last long in this fight. She clenched her staff and points it towards Uni, but the pair didn't give her any time for her to retaliate.

" 'NGP!' "

" 'CELESTIAL SEVERANCE!' "

Two beams of light rushes out of their barrels. Rei quickly conjures up a wall of chains, the same chains on her serpent chains. It woves together quickly in a sheet in front of her acting as a shield.

*CLSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHH!*

With Rei blocking such an attack with a wall made of chains, the color shifts to red from 0 – 3.5 because of the heat of the two beams. The two beams pushed her back, as she struggles to keep the wall of chain from melting and then collapsing.

*KSSSSHHH!*

" '_haa… haa..._' "

Their twin beam attack finally ended with Uni's weapon opening its hatches and releasing steam. Nepgear was pushed to a sitting position, heaving in air in heavy gasps.

" '_haa… haa…!_' " Rei, still in the air, puts away her wall of chain and gasps for air. But as soon as she does so…

" 'My turn…' "

" '…!' "

*BANG!*

Pseudo-Vert appears and dashes towards her breaking the sound barrier.

*CLASH!*

" 'Kh…!' " Rei successfully blocked the Pseudo-Vert's pass with her staff. Survival instincts taking over her movements. Pseudo-Vert quickly turns around and flies towards her back, spear taking point.

*BANG!* *CLASH!*

" '…!' " Rei turns around and blocks the next pass. But it sent her up in the air helplessly. Pseudo-Vert quickly recovers from her pass and launches herself with the spear leading the attack.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

Pseudo-Vert makes a cross pattern sets of thrusts, leaving streams of green light in her wake. And in that center, is Rei, her staff up.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

She continues to block each attack, as she can hardly feel her arms. The

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

At this time, Rei could only block attack after an attack. She has hardly the power to let her stay afloat in the air. And the attacks are the only thing that is keeping her in place.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

That last hit made Pseudo-Vert land on the ground. She turns around quickly before her target has any time to land, and charges at her.

*CLASH!*

Rei managed to block that pass despite the condition her body. With Pseudo-Vert above her, she raised her spear on her shoulder, the tip of her spear glows in a green aura. Her purple iris glows, revealing a power symbol.

" 'Spiral Break!' "

She throws the spear. Rei puts up her staff to block.

*CLASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSH!*

" 'Guh…!' "

Not expecting such a strong force, Rei was pushed back down towards the earth as she hold the spear from skewering her with her staff. Instincts tell her that her body won't last a second later. So, she bit her lip once more and regains her control on her flight. Using that, she gradually gains angle as she was pushed down by the spear towards the ground. Upon landing, she quickly leans her body to the side and pushes her staff to the opposite side, pushing the spear off target.

*BAM!*

It hits the ground behind her forming a large crater.

" '_HAAA… haaa..! Haa…!_' " she gasp in even bigger air than before.


	172. Chapter 172

Chapter 172:

" '_haa… haa… _How… _haa… _could I… lose…?' "

"Did we win…?" Nepgear falls on one knee, using her weapon as a can for support.

" '_haa… haa… _What's… with you? You were all bark and no bite' " Pseudo-Noire said.

" 'But you're really out of breath…' " Uni said.

" 'I'm so sweaty, but I suppose it means this experience was just _too _good…' " the madam said.

"All you did was defend yourself against blades and other paraphernalia" I said.

" 'Hrm? You said something boy?' " I can feel an icy chill on my back.

"Nope"

" 'Man, that bitch was hardcore. I hate to say it, but there's no way I would've won by myself' " Pseudo-Blanc said.

" 'Your intense strength makes it hard to believe that you are a CPU like us, but…' " Pseudo-Vert said.

" 'Nothing can stand against us when we combine our powers!' " Neptune finishes her thought.

" 'Ooh, such a classy line. I like it' " Neptune and I bumped fists.

" 'What _is _this!? Combining your powers? That's so cheap! You're all giant cheaters!' "

"*Sigh*…" I facepalm.

" 'Mama…' " Peashy can't hide the pity in her voice.

" 'I can't watch this shit. It's like looking into my own past' " Pseudo-Blanc said under her breath.

" 'Eeh, so our not-sister acted like this…' " Ram is surprised.

" 'I don't want a big sister like that…' " Rom declared.

" 'I-idiots! Don't listen to comments people make under their breath!' "

" 'Why? Why are you interfering!?' " she starts rambling.

" 'CPUs… Nations… They only bring misfortune!' " misfortune she says…

" 'And you CPUs… I've only met with misfortune because of you!' "

"Seems I can't hold my tongue anymore…" I take a deep breath and hold my hat.

"Hey, idiot!" I said I bring her attention back to reality

"If you want to complain about being the unfortunate human being as you already are, then tell that to some tree or rock or whatever stone carving, you selfish son of a gun"

" 'No, I—' "

"Oh what? Still want to talk? So you think you're the only unfortunate woman that have ever lived on this planet? Look around you woman, you made Planeptune a fucking mess. People are living on tents outside the damn country, we have injured people being treated and gawd bless those who are in critical state. And then you say you're unfortunate? Gawd, you are wonderful piece of work"

" 'That's just harsh, Jared…' " Neptune said with a small smile.

"She can't actually learn if we're not" I replied.

"And also… remember that CPUs are still human beings. Humans will always make the same mistakes over and over, with the same selfish reasons and the same stupid excuses. No matter who we are or what we are now we are still the weak, ignorant, stupid, cowards, simpleminded clowns, and worthless, steaming piles of disposable garbage that dance on this cruel unholy earth"

" 'He actually called us stupid…?' " I can hear you Pseudo-Noire.

" 'Worthless, steaming piles of disposable garbage…?' " Rom repeats my last insult to humanity.

"And because we're all that, and we _know_ we're all that, that we can become anything since we are born with nothing in the first place. Isn't that right, girls?" I ask them.

" 'Right!' " they chorused.

" '…I thought you dropped your fancy speeches' " Neptune asked me.

"Oh? In truth, I really didn't have the time to say anything since you girls talk non-stop"

" 'I'm happy being a CPU. And all the CPUs around me are their best' " Nepgear said.

" 'Uh-huh…' " Rom agrees.

" 'You can only say these things right now because you are favored…' " she argues back.

" 'All of you, and your nations… Sooner or later, you will all meet the same fate as I did' " she really didn't listen to anything I said, huh? Damn that just hurts that what I expected!

"Th-That isn't your memory! That's mine!" a shout from a very familiar voice.

" 'Huh?' " Rei looks to were that stairs are. And as though looking into a mirror she finds a woman with long blue hair and glasses.

" 'Mama…? Woow, I have two Mama's!' " Peashy gets excited.

" 'You're… the other Rei?' " Nepgear said.

"_haa… haa… _I'm glad I got here in time" Pseudo-Rei huffs in air as she holds herself.

" 'Why have you come?' " Pseudo-Vert asked.

"I-I'm sorry, but the attacks over there stopped, so I thought I would come and find you all" she answered.

"Hey Nepgear, check your device for a message or something"

" 'Uhm… Okay…' " Nepgear pulls out of thin air her device. With ease, her thumbs move quickly before stopping.

" 'Oh, there is one' "

"I see…" looking up, I can still see the thin transparent sheet of the barrier put up onto the city.

" 'I thought it was wrong of me to push a personal matter onto others' " it's really wrong.

" 'But when I got here, I was chased around by this world's CPUs and it took me a while…' "

"…That's… quite a given…"

" 'You're talking about our actual sisters?' " Uni asked.

" 'That would happen since we didn't clue them in' " Pseudo-Blanc said.

" 'Why did you come here?' " Rei asked her Pseudo self.

"To talk to… No… To apologize to you"

" 'Apologize?' "

"I am so very sorry!" she bows a right angle bow.

"I did something out of line. Because I forced my ideal onto you, things turned out like this"

" 'Shut up! Don't try to make yourself into the sacrificial lamb!' "

"Eep! Sorry! I'm sorry! Please don't yell..."

" 'Don't get scared of her! She's _you_! I mean, what did you come here to do!?' " Pseudo-Noire scolds.

" 'Stay tough, Mama!' " Peashy encouraged.

"Okay. Um, this is my problem to begin with, and I just want to take responsibility, so…"

" 'So you're telling me to give back _now_? Give you this power, these feelings, everything?' " she opens the pal of her hand and a dark flame ignites.

" 'Don't make me laugh! You threw it all away, right? These… are rightfully mine!' " she clenches her hand to a fist, killing the fire.

"Ahhh, please…!"

" 'Ah, this turned into such a turn-off' "

" 'What should we do? I don't believe there's a way to resolve this conversation' " Pseudo-Vert said.

" 'That doesn't matter. If we just kick the living shit outta this bitch, it's problem solved, right?' "

"I actually can't agree more, Pseudo-Blanc…"

"N-No! This version of me isn't at fault. It's all my fault!"

" 'Shut up! I don't need you to cover for me' "

"But…"

"Hahaha, damn. Fighting yourself. That's messed up, yo. Go easy on… you, I guess" another voice comes from above. A pale-tanned fairy with gradient themed wings sitting on an open black book

"Aaah! Y-You're…!"

" 'Wooooah! What's that thingy!?' " Ram asked.

" 'Histoire? But she's not…' " Rom wonders.

" 'That one's an evil Histoire. I think they're calling her Darksty or something' " Neptune answered.

" 'Or… maybe it was Badsty?' " Nepgear said.

"Both are wrong! Croire! My name's Croire!" Croire said.

" 'So the fly is gonna interfere with me, too?' " Rei said.

"I'm no bug, bitch. Whatever. This chick might've come at a pretty sweet time" Croire directs her words at Pseudo-Rei.

"M-Me? What do you mean? I won't do what you say! Every word out of your mouth is…"

"Nah, you don't gotta do nothin'. You just gotta give the power you brought here to her"

"Huh? I didn't bring that… Or anything, really! I don't have any power left…"

"Dumbass. CPUs don't lose their power that easily. Besides, you made some friends, right?"

"…! Nepgear! Shoot that fairy down!" I shouted.

" 'E-Eh!? B-But my gun is still recovering…' " damn, and by the looks of Uni's it's also recovering.

"O-oiiooaaaaaaaaooooah!"

Suddenly, Pseudo-Rei's head jerked up, her eyes wide and the rest of her body is stiff and twitching uncontrollably. Something seeps out of her pores, a dark goo-esque material. And from her open mouth, something is pulling itself out of it. It has these thin arms, that pops out and latches on the edges of her open mouth.

"Ahk… Keh…Kua…! Ka…k!,"

The dark goo-esque things is getting thicker and thicker. Her entire body is literally steaming of that stuff. And something thick, really thick, like a black ball of long fur, pulls itself out of her mouth.

"Ya…k! kh…! Kuha…!"

It rises off of her mouth. It's many thin like arms sway about, as the dark goo-esque material that had steamed out of her is now being absorbed by that thing.

"Ku…. Ah… Ak… *cough!* *cough!*!" after the thing fully escapes from her body, she falls on all fours and coughs hard. Her eyes in tears.

"There you go…"

"No! Please don't take it!"

"Kh!" I throw my sword at the fairy.

"Woah! That was dangerous" she dodged.

"…"

Translation: You really shouldn't do that.

"Damn it..."

"Now here you go. Some freshly squeezed power"

The black thing shoot itself towards Rei. It forces itself in her mouth. Her saliva drizzles out of the edges of her mouth. Her eyes are pulled back, and her body twitched uncontrollably. The black thing inches into her mouth…

" 'Ah… Aaaaaaahkk…!' " until she finally swallows it whole.

*BAM!*

"…Great… Now, we're really cooking with gas"

*GRRRRR!* *GRRRRR!* *GRRRRR!*

The earth and the air trembles heavily. Like someone just turned on a giant bass speaker. The source of trembling is pretty damn close, and it's a woman whose outlines are glowing in red-dark sinister aura. My instincts are telling that this is real bad. So bad, that the option of 'not holding anything back' pops into my head.

" 'Hahaha! Hahaha, what is this!? I have _this _much power still!?' "

"Ugghhh, it's all gone… I ended up doing something really dumb again…" Pseudo-Rei blames herself.

" 'Yeah. Basically' " Pseudo-Noire said.

" 'Boo! Mama you're stupid' "

" 'I'll spank you raw after this is all over. Hmhmhmm… Please look forward to it' "

"Th-That…"

"Okay guys, it's round two! Or could this be the _final _round?"

" 'What… is your stake in all this?' " Neptune asked Croire.

"Like I said, I just want to be entertained for a while. And also…" she turned to me.

"…"

Translation: There's a message for you…

"Oh?"

"All right, have at it!" Croire flies away, she probably going watch it on her favorite seat.

" 'Ahahahahaha! Such impertinence…' " her laugh becomes even more of a maniac. Her eyes locked onto us.

" 'Ten, one hundred times… No, I will pay you back one hundred million times!' "

*GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!*

" 'Such power… I can feel it emanating from her…' " Nepgear said.

" 'What're we gonna do, Pseudo-Noire? Or, um, Pseudo-Noire?' "

" 'It's not like I'm _fake _or anything! I'm still me! All we _can _do is beat her up again' "

" 'Can we… win…?' " Rom asked.

" 'Of course we can. I'm not gonna let my little sister in this world say such pussy-ass shit!' "

"Hey Pseudo-Blanc, I don't think she asked because she regained power 200 times over" I said.

" 'Eh? So what did she meant?' " I point my finger to the sky.

" 'Huh? EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH!?' " so even Pseudo-Blanc, when transformed, get surprised. Damn it, and Rei still has my phone.

" 'Wh… what the heck!?' " Ram shouts looking at the sky.

Clones. Clones. Clones. Clones. Clones. Clones. Countless clones hovering over us like overseers of this battle. But their role looks as though they are far from it. All of them are clenching their weapons tightly with they're eyes locked on to us. The girls gasp…

" 'This isn't looking good at all' " Pseudo-Vert said.

" 'Uwaaa! How many are they!?' " Nepgear asks.

" 'Wooooh! I can see me!' " Peashy points out.

" 'I don't think this is the time to be excited about that' " Uni said.

" 'Interesting. I get to have fun with clones of me again' " the madam said.

" 'So what do you think are we going to do now?' " Neptune asked.

"Simple. I take care of that woman, and you girls take care of the clones"

" 'You're crazy…' "

"So I heard" I said.

"Um, no matter how many times you defeat me, you'll have to do something about that dark power" Rei said.

" 'Do something, hmm? What are we to do against such a strange, unknown object…?' " Pseudo-Vert asked.

" 'Okay, I got it' " the madam agrees.

" 'Eh? Plutia, why do you sound so casual?' " Pseudo-Noire asked.

" 'What did you think of?' " Neptune asked as well.

" 'Nothing, honestly. But I know that nothing exists in this world that I can't dominate!' "

" 'Oh, that's pretty convincing' " don't get convinced by it, little-sister-in-law to-be.

" 'So then, boy. Call me if it's my time to give the punishment' "

"Will do"

" 'Ahh… it's too much! I can't stop it from flowing into me! I _will _delete you this time! AHAHAHAHAAHAHAHA!' "

*BAM!*

Suddenly, behind her, two large flames combusted. It doesn't take long before a giant red arm shoots out from it. The arms are literally 10 or 20 times larger than my own arm. It has chains worn as a bracelet. On each hand they have an axe.

" 'AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! POWER! POWER! THIS IS POWER!' "

*GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!*

"*Sigh*… This will really ruin my suite… Neptune…"

" 'Please don't throw it this time…' " a purple futuristic-katana appears before me. I catch it before it falls.

"Can't guarantee that… Now then…" I walk a few step ahead.

"Come on over…" I take a stance and face Rei.

"Let's play"


	173. HDN Love Plus Plus (1)

Hyperdimension Neptunia Love Plus Plus:

*SWING!* *WOOSH!*

"Woah, that's scary!" I step back at the last minute. Damn those arms are a pain.

" 'Hmph. For being human you're really persistent' "

"I'm a passerby. And I also don't want to die"

It hasn't been that long since we both started fighting. And both of us hasn't made major damage to the other. Although I still see that her usual patterns hasn't changed much, but those red giant arms holding dual axes are starting to get annoying. The girls are fighting clones after clones in the sky above. Keeping them distracted while I deal with this person.

" '…Die? I'll erase you!' " right then, a multiple blades appear in the sky behind her. Their tips all point towards me.

*BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!*

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

I parry her the blades that shooting towards me. And each time she does, the blades disappear and reappear from where they started.

*BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!*

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

Then she raises her staff and two black circles appear in the air. Two chains with heads of a metallic snake shoots out. They lunge towards me with their fangs open, as I still parry all these blades that are shooting at me.

"…!" overclocking my brain, I suddenly see a pattern.

I stop my swings and slip in between the many blades that are shooting at me. I parry a few more, as I make my way towards my opponent. One of the snake chains catches up to me and is ready to bite my face off. I bring up my sword in front of me and let it bite on it instead.

*CLASH!*

"…!" I let go of the sword, twists my body to the left. All the while dodging bullet-blades and not so much as a scratch on my suit. I grab one of the blades as I recover and the second snake-chain is on my face.

"…!"

*CLASH!*

With the handle of the blade I the bottom of its head hard.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

Then I continue parrying some more with the blade I took.

"Oh right, don't want to get that sword lost again" remembering that I need to get the sword. I look to see that snake that has my sword on its fangs is now being pulled back towards the black circle of abyss thingy.

"Great...!" I quickly make a break for it as I parry more blades.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

I align myself towards the snake that's taking my sword, as I parry more and more blades. The distance between me and my borrowed sword is just a meter. The chain speeds up it's pull. Increasing the distance more.

"Not on my watch!"

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

While parrying through raining blades of death, I catch another blade and throw it at the snake-chain. The two metals connect, at the snake opens its fangs releasing the sword.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

After parrying some more, I finally catch my sword, holding it in reverse. I put my pivot foot down and twist my body, swinging the sword towards her.

*CLASH!*

"Hello" I greeted her. My sword was swining for her head. But a blade suddenly intercepts it.

" 'Don't talk you wretched fool. Your breath smells' "

"Not to boast, but I'm confident with my hygiene…!" with the other sword, I thrust it towards her.

*CLASH!*

In an angle another sword appears, blocking the sword using the flat side of the blade. But the blade doesn't stop moving as its tip is moving towards my liver.

"Tch…!" I jump back dodging the attack.

" 'Heh…!' "

Then above me, a giant axe is swinging down on me by that big arm that she conjured up. I dodge to the side…

*BAM!*

"Damn…!" the giant debris caused by that are heading towards me. I land, and straighten my posture.

"…!"

*SCHWING!* *SCHWING!* *SCHWING!* *SCHWING!* *SCHWING!*

I cut each of the debris once. Once they split, I squeeze through the middle.

"…!" my instincts suddenly forced me to do a backflip. Knowing that they don't lie, I perform it willingly.

*SWING!*

Once that my hand reaches the ground, I do a recovery roll and stand up. The right arm with an axe is raised to the left, meaning I just dodged a sweeping swing of its axe.

" 'Kh!' "

"My turn!" I swing raise my leg behind me and swing to some rubble on the ground. As the rock flies towards its target, I make a break for it.

*BAM!*

She shoots one fireball intercepting one of the rocks. A cloud of smoke appeared after they both collided. Using that to my advantage, I throw the blade that I borrowed at her. It flies through the smoke.

" 'Tch!' " Rei jerks her head to the side, letting the blade past.

I jump as high as I could, raising my sword over my head, I swing it down to her as I fall.

*CLASH!*

"You're patterns still haven't changed you know. Didn't you learn anything from earlier…" a blade clashes against my sword. Because of the angle, I'm still able to hang in midair.

" 'Just shut up and die!' "

*BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!*

Using the blade as a platform I jump away as a number of fireballs fired off. I cut them down, and at the same moment an axe is swinging towards me on my left. I extend my left hand towards it lif, and as the axe got near, I put my palm on the axe and push the axe down while I lift myself up, vaulting over the axe.

"That was close…" maybe because of the cloths but I'm really sarcastic today. Yeah, it's because of the close.

" 'Stay still!' " the other giant red arm swings its axe towards me.

"No way…!"

*SWING!*

Readjusting my posture in midair, I lean my body back, as the axe pass over me, with just centimeters to spare. Before it completely passes over me, I lean further back still, plant my feet on it, and lunge myself towards Rei.

" 'You…!' "

*CHNG!* *CHNG!* *CHNG!* *CHNG!* *CHNG!*

Then, four snake chains charge towards me with their fangs wide open. I swing my sword on one of them, completely batting it away. Another comes onto me completely after that, I twist my body suddenly when it gets close enough missing me and twist to a 360. With the third one within arm reach, I grab the chain that is behind its head and drive its fang towards the fourth one.

With all that done, I raise my sword and drop down on her.

*SWING!*

" '…!' " she steps back. Since I'm crouching, I swing as I stand.

*SWING!*

" '…!' " she moves her head to the side. Taking another step towards her, I swing my sword down and her staff move to block.

*CLASH!*

"C'mon woman, at least dance with me here!"

" 'Why you little…!' "

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

I swing furiously at her. She blocks my attacks with staff as she flies back/

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

My sword approaches her in different angles making her click her tongue every time, keeping herself from summoning something.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

I swing in random order of low, mid, high, keeping her in check.

*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*

*CLASH!*

My last swing was strong enough to push her back. As she does so, one of the giant axe went up in flames and disappeared. The giant hand clenched into a fist and a giant punch is heading straight for me. Thinking that this is the perfect time to cut one of those down, I jump on it.

"…!"

I run along the giant arm, as I swing my sword left and right. Blood spew out and flies out everywhere, leaving many wounds as I make my way towards the shoulder. Reaching the shoulder, I jump up, raising my sword over my head. I swing it back down as I fall.

*KSSSSHNG!*

" '…!' "

*BAM!*

"Oh man, now my suit is a bloody mess… Ugh, and it smells too…" I land on the ground, with the amputated giant arm falling on the ground behind me.

" 'Why don't you just die already, you piece of shit!' " the remaining giant arm, throws its axe, spinning like a top towards me.

"You really don't learn do you…!"

I run towards the axe and lean backward as I slide, letting the axe pass over head. When I raise my torso up, another axe is coming down on me. I raise my sword over me.

*CLASH!* *BAM!*

The moment the two metals touch, I tilt it to the side letting the axe slide towards the ground. Then, I take a step, point the sword down, twist my body and swing it back up, cutting off the hand.

*KSSSSHNG!*

" '…!' " the giant jerks up, probably feeling the numbing pain.

"...!" I lunge towards Rei.

" 'Gh…!' "

*SCHWNG!*

A blade shoots out in front of me, I raise my foot and step on it using it as a platform.

*SCHWNG!*

And then another, I jump towards it with my right leg.

*SCHWNG!*

With another one coming in, I jump on it with my left leg. Since I'm already close to the shoulder of the arm, I swing through my left leg propelling me upward. I lean my upper body back and bring my left leg in. Then using my arms, I twist my body to a 360 in the air, performing a cork screw flip.

" '…!' "

Then, as I complete my spin, I twist my body to face the shoulder of the giant arm, readying my sword in front of me.

*KSSSSSHNG!* *KSSSSSHNG!* *KSSSSSHNG!* *KSSSSSHNG!*

I cut swing my sword as fast as I could as I fall down, cutting through the muscle and bone of it. Blood spew out everywhere, getting on my clothes and on my sword.

*KSSSSSHNG!* *KSSSSSHNG!* *KSSSSSHNG!* *KSSSSSHNG!*

*BAM!*

"Damn, this is really going to leave a stain…" landing on the ground, I examine my clothes as the giant red arm falls down in front of me.

" 'Why… you….!' "

*GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!*

Her rage, trembles the very earth and air. The outline of her body is slowly turning darker and darker. The pupils of her eyes are starting to glow, showing a very clear power symbol. I turn and face her, I raise my arm, and point at something behind her.

" 'Huh?' " she looks behind her.

" 'Haaaaaaaah!' "

" 'Again!?' "

Pseudo-Blanc runs towards Rei, almost dragging her axe. Rei takes a step back, but her knees buckled under her suddenly, making her fall on one knee. Clicking her tongue, she summons a wall of blades.

" 'Hhaaaaaah!' "

*CLASH!* *BAM!*

" '…Ack..!' "

Pseudo-Blanc crushed her shield, the moment she did, Rei raised her staff to fend her from the deadly swing. The swing connects and it sends her flying a few meters between them. Pseudo-Blanc recovers and raise her axe over her head.

" 'Urrryaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!' "

*BAM!*

She hits the ground with all her might, trembling the entire area. Cracks stems forth on the ground from her axe and races towards her. Passing under her, the cracks splits the ground in large fissures and then the divisions suddenly rise up in the air, hitting Rei in the back.

" 'Guaaaah!' "

She was forced up in the air once more. Her entire body numb and stunned. On the ground, Pseudo-Blanc spins like a top using the weight of her axe to increase her spin. She let's go of her weapon and her axe spins like a boomerang towards its target.

Rei forced her body to move and holds up her staff just as the axe reaches her.

*CLASH!*

She managed to parry the axe. It's a miracle that she's still able to move under her body's conditions. The axe land back on the ground sticking up from the ground. Pseudo-Blanc was already running at this time, knowing where her axe is going to land. She grabs hold of her axe and flies up in a much higher altitude than her opponent.

" 'HARD BREAK!' "

She spins back down, increasing the force her axe is going to exert once the move connects. Rei's hands move on their own, as she raised her staff once more to block.

*CLASH!* *BAM!* *BAM!*

" '…Ack...!' " she suddenly pushed back down on the ground. She hits the ground hard that it caused a crater and she bounced off the ground like a rag doll.

" 'Mama! It's my turn!' "

*BANG!*

Peashy flies in that moment. Rei is still stunned from the last attack, her breaths blown away and can't recognize her directions. Peashy changes the posture of her flight and both of her feet are heading towards her mother.

" 'Kh…!' " Peashy hits Rei's side. Unmeasurable pain spreads like wildfire on her entire body. Peashy twists her body, and performed a reverse kick, hitting her on the head.

" '…!' " she was kicked away.

*BANG!*

But Peashy quickly follows. She bends forward, turning to a ball and putting her waist above her shoulders. She raised her leg high and swings it down as she rises upright.

" '…Ughwaaah!' " Rei was kicked back down towards the ground.

*BANG!*

But, feets away before she could hit the ground. Peashy had already taken position on the ground where she would supposedly crash and burn. She swings her back leg, performing a round kick at her head. Rei raised her hand, her survival instincts guiding it.

" 'Kh!' " she manages to block fatal blow to the head.

Peashy's foot lands on the ground, her back turned. Then she lifts her leg up and swings it towards her target behind her. Rei puts her in a cross and takes the full blow of it.

" '…..!' " the kick was strong that she was back up in the air.

*BANG!*

Peashy gives chase, and it didn't take long for her to catch up. Without diminishing her speed, she raises her foot just as she gets near. Rei's arms are still crossed, she managed block it. Now, Peashy slightly above Rei, with the same raised foot, drops it down performing a heel drop kick.

" '…!' " it hits her left shoulder, her face contorts in pain.

" 'Haaaa!' " Peashy raised her other foot, Rei raised her staff as she kicks.

" '...!' " the kick pushed her back towards the ground.

*BANG!*

And just like before, Peashy is already where she was supposed to hit the floor. She raised her claw behind her and swings it upwards. Rei manages, in burning numbing pain, to readjust her staff to block.

*CLASH!*

" '…!' " and as though she is being played at, she is now back in the air.

" 'Carnage…!' "

*BANG!*

Peashy flies once more, this time, she didn't attack Rei as she passes. But above takes position above her with her leg raised.

*BANG!*

" 'FAAAAAAAAAANNNNGGGG!' "

She dives down towards her target her foot spearheading the attack.

*CLASH!*

Rei summons just one blade. That one blade although it was destroyed managed to misdirect Peashy's kick, dodging the attack by a hair's length. She lands on the ground, lifting her body up with her staff.

" 'Aha! Now it's my turn' "

Above, the Madam sits on an invisible throne, looking down her target with a dominatrix feel.

Thick black clouds suddenly looms overhead. Despite the sky being dark, you still see the distinction. Thunder roars from deep within those, as though it was roar of a some thunder dragon. The Madam goddess backflips upwards and raises her leg.

" 'T Blade Kick…' " she kicks the air.

*BAM!*

Rei quickly conjures up a wall of chains at the last minute. Hitting her shield it didn't last a second as the shield gets shattered into pieces. But, managing not to get hit directly, she somehow was thrown back to the ground behind her. She grits her teeth and lifts herself up. And Madam goddess is only 10 meters away from her.

" 'I'll give an angel's service… Mwah…' " she gives her a flying kiss.

Like before, sphere appeared in front of her and from its edges 4 beams of light races through the air towards her. Not giving her ample time to conjure up a shield she lifts up her staff to block.

*BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!*

Upon hit, her staff didn't last long and was shattered into pieces just like her wall of chains. Rei is back on the laying on the ground, her body stunned and unable to move from the fatigue.


	174. HDN Love Plus Plus (2)

Hyperdimension Neptunia Love Plus Plus:

" 'Ugh! In the end… I… Again, I just…' " from her voice I feel that she's about to pass out. So without wasting any more time, I walk towards her. Her eyes stare blankly at me

"You know Rei. People can't exactly change the world nor can we reset it…" I said in almost a whisper.

" '…' "

"…The world outside is pretty big, anything can happen in these lawless lands…" I crouch down.

"So the only thing left to change for us to change is the world from within us" I point at her chest.

"Maybe that's what you need to reset..."

" '…Heh…' " she gives a faint smile, before her consciousness fades away. I stand up and take a few steps back.

I look around, and all the girls have landed safely back on the ground. Except a few scratches and some sweat sweating on their faces, they're fine. The clones in the air have are now gone and their probably on the laying on the ground decommissioned. I don't know since the area we're standing on is elevated and I'm the center of it.

" 'Had a tough time?' " Neptune asked as the group approaches.

"Terrible time. I mean look at my suit all bloody and shit…"

" 'Uwaaa… It's a pretty deep red, and you can't wash it away anymore…' "

"I'll be too ashamed to face Histy now…" the horror!

" 'Mama! Are you okay?' " Peashy runs up to her mother and kneels beside her.

" 'She passed out from all the pleasure I inflicted. I wouldn't accidentally kill her, would I?' " the madam said walking towards her.

" 'Gaaahk…!' "

Rei's mouth opens on their own, and black thin arms latches on the edges of the mouth. The same black ball with thin arms is pulling itself out of her mouth.

" 'Hey, that dumb black fire thing is coming out!' " Ram said.

" 'It's a lot smaller, but it's still a threat…' " Nepgear said.

" 'Plutia! You can do something about this, can't you?' " Pseudo-Noire asked.

" 'Of course I can. This dark little thing can't possibly refuse my commands!' "

The Madam reaches out to the ball of black. Upon grasping it on her hand, its thin arms latches onto her arms. I can see her forearms flex as she tries to crush it on her hand. Then, her arms shake and slowly inches closer to her face. She holds her forearm with her free hand resisting her forearm from folding.

" '…What? You intend to stand against me!?' "

" 'Is it…! Is it trying to go into Plutie this time!?' " Neptune speculates.

" 'Hey hold it! If that happens…!' " Pseudo-Blanc said.

" 'She's already like that as it is. If you toss insanity and megalomania on top of that…' " Pseudo-Vert stop giving us the idea please.

" 'That… would be horrible! Just thinking about it makes me…' " see? Nepgear imagined it and is now shaking like a dog.

" 'What? Would it really be that awful?' " Uni asked.

" 'Gamindustri would truly face its final moments! Plutie!' " Neptune encourages.

" 'It still has a lot of stamina' " the madam struggles keep that thing off her mouth.

" 'But it's still rather impudent, trying to get inside me like this! Ugh!' " she clenches her fist even tighter trying to crush it on one hand. But it proves to be much more resilient that she thought and the thing inches even closer to her mouth.

" 'Hang in there, Ploot!' " Peashy cheers.

" 'What're you doing? You just said you could do something about it!' " Ram said, her insult mean encouragement.

" 'Try really hard…!' " Rom encourages.

" 'I know, I know. It's just proving a bit too big for me…' " her arm is literally shaking.

" 'Plutie, if it's too much for you to handle, then I'll…!' "

"No need, Neptune…" I grab her shoulder. And besides, I'd rather you don't get involved with that thing. My instincts have been signaling 'danger, danger' ever since I saw that.

" 'But…!' " instead of answering, I point with my chin. She looks, and saw a woman with blue hair and eyes, with glasses rising from where she lay and scrambles towards the madam.

"I'll help you too, Plutia!" she holds the madam's arm, trying to stop the madam's hand from reaching her mouth.

" 'Haa? Like we'd let _you _help!' " Pseudo-Noire said.

" 'That's right. If you get that power again, you might go crazy!' "

"It'll be fine. It was my power to begin with" Rei assures.

"And I've made companions and have met kind CPUs like you now, so I'm sure that I'll…"

" 'UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH!' "

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Able to put her strength into just crushing the black ball of something. With a shout to the heavens she crushes it with only one hand. Light flashes before our eyes, and just as fast as it flashes, the light recedes.

Once that our eyes has adjusted. We see that two people are now lying down on the ground.

" 'The power… disappeared…?' " Rom said.

" 'Plutia!' " Pseudo-Noire scrambles towards the madam and lift her up.

" 'Mama!' " Peashy too to Rei. But she lifts her up and puts her head on her lap.

"Ugh…"

" '_haa, haa…_' " borrowing Pseudo-Noire's shoulder, the madam stands.

" 'Hey, you okay?' " Pseudo-Blanc asked.

" '…I'm fine. It sure gave me quite a thrill, though' " the madam said.

"Plus, there isn't any changes to her personality"

" 'Phew, that's a relief. If you had gotten any worse that you are now… Well, phew' " good for you, Nepgear.

" 'But. While I was unconscious, I felt that maybe my personality got a little bit worse… perhaps…' "

" 'Huh? EEEEEEH!?' "

" 'Hmhmhmm… Shall I try out my new desires on you, Neppy Jr.?' "

"You say that, but you can't even stand on your own let alone do something to Nepgear" I said.

" 'She hasn't changed at all, I see' " Pseudo-Vert said.

" 'Yes. As for this one…' "

" 'Mama! Mama!' "

"…" she was still quite despite her 'daughter's' cry.

" 'Heh… Hahahaha…' " and then started laughing.

" 'What the heck!? She just started laughing like a psycho!' " Ram said.

" 'You… As I thought…!' "

"N-No, no. It's… different. I promise I'm not strange, o-or deranged, or anything" Rei assures Pseudo-Noire.

" 'Really? Yay! It's Mama!' " assured of that fact, Peashy hugs her mother.

"I'm sorry I worried you"

" 'In that case, don't laugh like that for no reason. It's bad for my heart' " Pseudo-Blanc scolds.

"I-I'm sorry" she apologizes.

"You all accepted me so readily, it made me happy. Though I was fully under that power's control…"

" 'Aww, and now my final chance to shine has been ruined…' " the madam complained.

"Oh! I'm so sorry for overstepping my bounds!"

" 'Whatever. Just so you understand. I'll forgive you this time' " oh, the madam smiled warmly. Now that's an even rarer occurrence. Sigh…

"*Sigh*… Now I can finally have some repri…!"

*SQZZZZZZZ!*

"…!"

*SQZ!* *SQZ!* *SQZ!* *SQZ!* *SQZ!* *SQZ!*

This is…!?

"GUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAH!?"

*SQZ!* *SQZ!* *SQZ!* *SQZ!* *SQZ!* *SQZ!* *SQZ!* *SQZ!* *SQZ!* *SQZ!* *SQZ!* *SQZ!* *SQZ!*

" 'Hrm? J-JARED!?' " I hear a familiar voice of a woman scrambling towards me.

" 'B-Big Brother!' " two sets of hands holds me in place. As I grimace in pain.

My eyes are closed, and yet I can see sparks. My head feels like it's about to split open.

*SQZZZZZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZZZZ!*

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHGGGGH!"

Numbing, electric pain races around my head. Like someone is using a stun gun on me, numbing all my senses.

*SQZZZZZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZZZZ!*

"YOU SON OF A BI-!"

The pain comes in waves echoing throughout my body. My sense of direction fails me and that next thing I know, I'm looking at the floor.

*SQZZZZZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZZZZ!*

"_Haa… Haa… _HNNNNNNGG!"

" 'Big Brother! What's wrong!?' "

" 'Jared! Jared!' "

*SQZZZZZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZZZZ!*

Those voices of worry feel so near and yet my mind doesn't at least register them as such. My face grimace and distorts in pain. I can taste something like iron filling my mouth and leaking in the corners of my mouth. My ears rings an endless tune of static noises.

*SQZZZZZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZZZZ!*

I force my eyes to open, and a red pigment layers over the scenery I can see. It was like I'm watching an old television, with bad reception. All the colors have been washed out, leaving only a grey scene. The reception's bad, that it flickers and flickers as though someone is messing up the antenna.

*SQZZZZZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZZZZ!*

I can see the girls wearing such worried faces. Looking at me, as though they've seen something really mortifying. Near my shadow, I see to more shadows that is beside mine. I can see that they're shaking me but I can't feel it, I can see that they're shouting at me, but I can't hear it.

*SQZZZZZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZZZZ!*

But there is something that catches my eye. Amidst the bad reception, the waves of pain in my head as though someone is playing a heavy metal song. Amidst the red pigment of the black and white scene before me. I see a long black flame, burning with life.

*SQZZZZZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZZZZ!*

That black flame hovers on the madam's free arm. The length covers her entire arm. No, it's not hovering as though it was layer in on picture. Her arm is up really up in black flames. But her face doesn't tell it. She doesn't know it.

*SQZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!* *SQZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!*

"GAH! GUUUUAAAAAAAGGGKKKH!"

I close my eyes once more, trying to get through the pain. I think I'm releasing something from my mouth. But I don't know, my senses are dull. My brain can't process things other than the pain in my head.

"_Julia! Julia!_"

"_Theodore…_"

*SQZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!*

"HAA! _Haa… haa… _" I came to. And the first thing I saw, is a reflection of myself in a pool of blood.

" 'Jared! Thank goodness you came to!' " I can feel someone embracing me.

" 'Big Brother! Are you okay!?' " Nepgear asked beside me.

"…!" Ignoring Nepgear for now, I look up and found immediately who I'm looking for.

"NOIRE! GET THE HELL AWAY FROM PLUTIE NOW!"

" 'Huh!? What the hell are you saying!?' "

"THERE'S NO TIME! JUST DO IT!"

" 'Hrm? Is this some sort of…?' "

*BAM!*

And then it happened. Something exploded, no, it was more of a ripping sound than an explosion. Everyone stands in shock, holding their breaths. Something long flies up in the air, and red liquid spew it from one end and from where it came from. Slowly, the madam looks at it…

" '…joke… HIIIIIIIII! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!' "

And saw that her arm had just been torn off.


	175. HDN Love Plus Plus (3)

Hyperdimension Neptunia Love Plus Plus:

This is yet another cruel example of how cruel the world is.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

A scream that reaches the heavens themselves. A stray arm is on the ground. The smell of iron is heavy in the air. Blood splatters on the ground. Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood. So much blood that it's impossible to look away. The madam's shoulder continue to spew out more blood.

For the rest of the cast, it seems as though time is moving slowly, as they watch the scene before them. Is this reality? Or merely a dream? Or maybe some sort of cruel joke? Even as she falls on her knees, screaming in aggravating pain, it seems as though an infinite number of time had passed by. They're minds in a haze of confusion and shock.

" 'Guhg…! Guaahaaak! Ahk!' "

" 'H-Hey!' "

That sound of someone vomiting, probably Rom, had awakened us all. My mind immediately went to work.

" 'H-Her arm…?' " Pseudo-Vert mumbles mindlessly.

"Gugh! GUhaaaaaak!" Rei vomits.

" 'Are you okay?' " Pseudo-Vert assists Rei.

" 'Mama!' "

" 'Wh-What's going on…?' " Nepgear stares blankly. She's shaken up.

"Nepgear, hey Nepgear…!"

*SLAP* *SLAP*

" 'E-Eh… Big Brother...' " lightly slapping her cheek she finally gets her senses together.

"Ram needs you right now…" a quick look at Ram shows that her eyes can't peel away from the scene.

" 'Ah, Mhm…' "

"Once she calms down tell her to freeze that arm… We need it…"

" 'Right…' " she stand and heads over to Ram.

" 'Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaghhh! Hiiiiiii!' "

" 'H-Hey…!' " Pseudo-Noire wants to assist the Madam but she doesn't know what to do. She's in shock. With the amount of blood she expelled it's not too surprising. But this time…

"Pseudo-Noire get away from her now!"

" 'J-Jared…! What are you saying!?' " Neptune asked beside me.

" 'Yeah! She's losing a lot of blood, you dolt!' "

" 'W-we need to get her to the hospital…' " Uni tries to act tough.

"I can see that! But if you don't get away from her, then…!"

" 'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!' "

The madam shouts even louder, like a beast's roar. It made even Pseudo-Noire pull back a bit. Something is coming, and I don't need to rely on my instincts to know.

" 'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGH! HIII! HAAA! URAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!' "

Another one. And even more louder, as though the beast has been agitated. Slowly, I can see black steam forming around her body.

" 'RRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAA! OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGG!' "

That black steam slowly thickens, and the stench of blood thickens. The world is once again stop, as all eyes looks at what's happening to her.

" 'GGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! GROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!' "

Pseudo-Noire stands and steps back mindlessly. Something is visible about to come out of her open shoulder. The black steam thickens more and more, a shade of deep purple can be seen.

" 'GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!' "

*SKSHSSSH!*

This time, she roars more a wild beast than a humans. And at the same time, something suddenly pops out of her shoulder. It's red. The color is red. Very deep red. Its shape is of an arm, bigger than the madam's actual arm. And instead of a hand it's more right to say that it's a claw. It has bright red, linings that expands and shrivels in a pattern, as though following the beating of a heart.

" '… … … …' " then it grows quiet. So quiet that it hurts your ears.

" 'Pl…' "

"Hush, Neptune…" I keep her quiet.

*BANG!*

"…!"

*BAM!*

"GH…! Pl-Plutie…!"

Unexpectedly, the madam had charged in towards me. I tried to roll out of the way but Neptune was holding my shirt, because she was scared. Due to that, if I move she gets hit and I don't want that. Her claw grabs my neck and pushes me down to the ground using her body weight to pin me.

The madam's face looks so horrid. Blood is coming out of her mouth, nose and eyes.

" '…! …! …!' "

Translation: Hehe! HAHAHAHAHAHA! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

"…! GH…!" she tightens her hold on my neck.

" 'Jared!' "

"…!"

Translation: Aha, this body feels so good! All the menace inside her is just making me cum! Ahaahhaahahaha!

"…!" I know this smell, I know this feeling. My blood boils.

Translation: You…!

"…!"

Translation: Oh? Finally get it? HA! You really are _his _son!

"…!"

Translation: Fuck that! You sonuvabitch!

Since my other arm isn't pinned down, I quickly move my hand towards her mental nerve, located near the front of her chin.

" '…!' "

Upon hitting that nerve, it caused her body to malfunction a bit. Using that opportunity, I slip away from her, stand and jump back. By this time, she regained control of her body and stood up from her spot.

" 'J…Jared… wh-what's going on?' " Neptune asked.

"…I'll tell you later…"

" '…It seems something went wrong during the time she was crushing that black power…' " no shit, Pseudo-Vert.

" '…And… something… this terrible…' " Pseudo-Noire is still confused.

" 'Th-Then, we're going to have to fight her now…?' " Pseudo-Blanc asked.

" 'But t-that's…!' " Nepgear was about to say something but stopped herself.

"…"

Translation: You… who the hell are you?

" '…' "

Translation: …I don't have the luxury to answer you…

"…"

Translation: You've been stalking me since I you attacked me that one time…

" '…' " the madam checks her fingernails.

Translaton: Oh really? I don't remember… Hehehe…

" '…Huh? Why is Jaweed talking but not talking…?' " Peashy asked.

" 'Y-Yeah, I can't hear anything…' " Uni adds.

"…"

Translation: Let her go

" '...' " Croire said that earlier. So it's alright to assume that they're both affiliates.

Translation: Haa? Why would I? I finally found a decent body to send you this shitty message…

" '…' " the madam examines her own body. As though a child is examining her own developed body. She touches everywhere, including her crotch and her breasts. I'm not amused.

Translation: …But it can wait. I mean, this body feels so good to move on. And hot too…

" '…' " she licks her tongue.

Translation: Those other women that I lingered inside in are all boring existence. But this one…

" 'I might be able to kill a 'monster'…' "

" ' 'Monster'? ' " Neptune repeats the word.

"…I said let her go…" an old blood pumps through my veins. As my breathing grows heavy, my bloodlust rises. My eyes are slowly turning into 'those'.

" '…Hehehehe… What? Turning all serious now?' "

"…_Haa… haa_… Let her go…!"

" 'Hrm? I do want to go away by myself, but I don't want to… so…' " she points one of her claw fingers on her neck. Once that the claw presses against her skin, it bleeds.

" '…you just have to kill her to get me out…' "

"YOU FUCKING BITCH!" my 'eyes' stare directly at her.

" 'Jared! Don't!' " Neptune stops me by grabbing my coat. But I don't look at her.

" 'Don't kill her! I don't know what's going on, but don't kill her please!' "

" 'Right? See? Even your girlfriend says so. If you kill her best friend then your lower than scum right?' "

"Neptune… Let go…"

" 'Don't!' "

" 'Big Brother are you really going to kill Plutia?' " Nepgear asks.

"…"

" '…You're serious, aren't you…?' " Pseudo-Vert asked.

" 'GRRRR! I can't take this shit! Why we just beat her up instead!?' " Pseudo-Blanc asked.

" 'Didn't you hear, that thing won't get out of her body unless we kill Plutia!' "

" 'B-But that's…!' "

"Neptune, let go…"

" 'But…!' "

"…This world is absolutely cruel... we're always going to be victims of such a world… peaceful times is a just a bait, bad times are just the taste of it"

" 'Ja…' " her grip loosens, using that opportunity I walk towards the madam.

" 'Done with your fancy speeches? What you're not going to ask that whore of yours a weapon' " she summons her own weapon. It's not her signature whip-sword, but a long thing that is probably made out of blood.

"…Shut up. Don't talk to me you worthless scum…" my 'eyes' stare at hers.

" '…Hehehe! Atta boy, let's play some fetch…' "

"I really will kill you, you mother fucker!"


	176. HDN Love Plus Plus (4)

Hyperdimension Neptunia Love Plus Plus:

*BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!*

" 'AHAHAHAHAHA! That's right! Run you mut! Run!' "

"You'll bite your tongue if you talk!"

I take a stance, my posterior wrist stops the forearm, stopping the claw. With my free hand, I then turn it into a fist and swing it towards the very bloody arm's biceps. Upon contact, I push a little further before scrapping my fist on its skin with my knuckles. Without waiting for anything to happen, I quickly step up and fold my arm so that my elbow is pointing at a specific spot on her neck. Then, I quickly push that spot, called ST-9.

"…!" damn, as expected nothing happened.

" 'What do you think would happen? Fall down like a bitchy marionette!?' "

Pulling my hand away, I quickly turn it into a palm and strike it on her chest, pushing her back. Wasting no time, I run up to her. Upon recovery, she raises her blood made weapon and thrust it towards me. Probably because it was made out of blood, that the tip extends towards me. I stop on my tracks and sway back letting the tip whiff pass me.

" 'Gotcha…!' "

"Kh…!" then something wet and cold wraps around me tightly. That's right, it's blood. It can be flexible and sturdy as it wants.

'_Damn it! Better start thinking straight now!_'

" 'Haha!' " she jumps high into the air, beast-esque expression on her face. Her claw is raised into the air as she keeps the blood weapon tight to keep on one spot. The claw is dangerously close now, close enough that I the bloodied weapon lose its tension. I quickly lean on the side.

*BAM!*

The claw hits the ground hard, small debris flies and clouds of dust puffed out. The claw had actually dug a hole. With her crouching down, she takes a step forward and swipes at me as she pulls her bloody thingy. I managed to lean back; the claw missing by a few short centimeters.

Once I raised my body, I perform 2 step kicks to her sides. Her face contorts briefly in the small pain that I inflicted. Once the second foot lands on the ground, I use it as pivot and swing my other leg towards her head, performing a hook kick.

" 'Gh…!' " I think I heard the sound something cracking and some breaths gasping in the background gasping for air.

And using the same leg, I perform a back kick to her solar plexus. Kicking the breath out of her, pushing her away. The cold bloody wrap around me had lost its tightness, making it easy for me to get out of its hold. A moment not wasted, I lunge towards her as she recovers.

" '…!' "

With one fist ready on my side and another over my stomach, I take a step closer, bend my knee and push both fists to her chest and stomach, performing a U punch. The attack pushed her back some more, and whatever breaths she had left is now knocked out of her. And yet she doesn't fall.

"…You're…!"

" 'Finally get it!? Ahahahahahaha!' " she laughs.

" 'This body has been long knocked out since you hit her neck earlier…' " I knew it.

" 'But since I'm here! This body will still move even if it's a rotten piece of shit!' " it's like controlling a puppet.

" 'So you can't make leave this body with just knocking this chick's lights out... You have to _kill _her to get me out. Ahahaha!' " she laughs maniacally.

"…" my old blood boils further and my breathing gets rough. My 'eyes' focus on hers, giving her eyes a good hard 'look'. My ears rings, I can't hear anything. I don't want to hear anything. A distant voice of long ago resurfaces. Whispering into the growing darkness in my heart.

Translation: Just stay there…

"…" Sorry for this Plutie…

Translation: …and let me murder you.

…I might kill you.

" 'Like hell I'd let you do that!' "

*BANG!*

Suddenly, she was already right in front of me, the claw clenched into a fist. I clench mine into a fist as well and swing it towards the claw.

*SQZZZZZZ!*

"…!" my head hurts the moment they connected. I duck her bloody arm jump back a little. My headache had stopped.

" '...Heh! Thought I'd give you a sort of a handicap there…' "

"…" I only return a 'stare'.

" 'Tch, you're really boring when you just stare like that…!' " and I can see that you're legs are shaking.

" 'Don't stare at me!' "

*ROOOOAAAR!*

A roar echoes loudly. Swinging her arm upwards, something big, red and long shoots out from her arm chasing after me. And then slowly, as it reaches me, fangs begins to be more distinguishable, akin to a head of some sort of a beast. It rises up in the air and opens its fangs at me. Then dives down on me, ready to swallow me whole.

"…" jump back avoiding my presumed death.

"…"

" 'Tch!' "

*SQZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!*

"_Julia!_"

And through that red devilish thing, a punch by clenched up fist of a claw suddenly appeared. I quickly block it. Her other hand, still holding that bloody weapon of hers, swings up. I quickly move away to the side take a step forward and thrust my fist on her gut.

" '…I told you that she's already knocked out!' "

"Just shut the hell up already…" then in twist of my body, I grab her arm from behind her and pull it back down. I quickly hold it with my other hand on her elbow. And then I…

*BRRRREAK!*

" '…GUaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!' "

"Oh? You feel pain? Who knew…" …I break the joint in her elbow. Folding it in a way that is not meant by nature.

" 'Why you…!?' " I quickly grab her biceps, pull her arm in and push it up. Then using the whole of my forearm bring it down to her shoulder.

" '…Ghaaah…! Kiiiii!' "

"…Come now, a little shoulder dislocation doesn't that much…" I let go of her arm.

" '…Kh!' " turns and swipes its claw at me, I lean back.

*SWIPE!*

" 'Don't get cocky!' "

*SWIPE!*

"…"

" 'Kh!' " so even you can't stand the sight of my 'eyes'. Got to admit, you lasted longer.

Using that opportunity, I make grab her functional, black arm.

*SQZZZZZZZZZZZZ!*

"_Theodore…_"

Then with my palm, I hit the bottom of her chin as hard as I can muster. I heard the sound of many of her teeth shattering. When I pull back my hand, she coughed out blood and some teeth.

*SQZZZZZZZZZZ!*

"_No Julia, don't talk!_"

I gave her a palm strike to push her away. She spits out blood as she recovers…

" '…*Spit!* Heh! Hehehehehehe! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!' " and then proceeded to laugh.

"…"

" 'Good job! Good job! You were able to last long with me! And hell you even made me shit out of my pants! Congratulations! You're the man of the hour!' " she wants to clap but then again with a broken elbow and shoulder she just pointed her index claw at me.

"…"

" 'And so as a reward… I'll tell the message that _they _want to deliver to you!' " they?

" 'What about it? Hrm? Lost for words? You want to know what the message is right? Right!? Ahahaha!' "

"…And? What about her?" last chance.

" 'Oh this girl? Yeah, well, I can't really. It's such a waste of a body you know. All the menace and sadism whenever she transforms! Ah! I could just jerk off to it!' "

"*Sigh*…" sorry, Plutie. I'm really sorry. But… I have to…

And with a 'stare' directly into her eyes. The same 'stare' that I gave to Anonydeath. The same 'stare' that I gave to Yvoire. The same 'stare' that I've given to thousands other victims, innocent or otherwise. I walk towards her.

*Step* *Step* *Step* *Step*

" 'Huh? Wh-What? Why are you coming closer?' "

*Step* *Step* *Step* *Step*

" 'O-Oh! Right! You don't want anyone to hear it! I understand! I understand! But we can just talk in that language right? No need for a whisper' "

*Step* *Step* *Step* *Step*

" 'H-hey! Um, yeah! How about I tell you everything I know instead! It's the story of the century!' "

*Step* *Step* *Step* *Step*

" 'H-Hey man! D-Don't come any closer!' "

*Step* *Step* *Step* *Step*

" 'Gh! S-See this! I'll rip her head apart if you don't stop now!' "

*Step* *Step* *Step* *Step*

" 'I mean it! Don't come closer!' "

*BANG!*

" '…Huh?' "

Then something happened. Suddenly she has a hole on her stomach. The blood drip out slowly at first but it didn't take long after before the whole in her stomach starts leaking out blood profusely. She looks behind her, and saw a certain woman wearing a blue overcoat and a leafy green hair accessory on attached to her brown hair holding a gun.

" 'Kh! D-Dammit…!' "

"Hey…"

" 'Hiiiiiiiiiii!' "

"Watch your feet…"

" 'Huh? …!' " I trip her with my leading leg. She falls to the ground.

" '…Guh!' "

"So… what to do with you…?" I stomp on her knee.

" 'Guuuuuaaaaaaaaaah!' "

"Oh, nice shout. It makes me cum just to hear it…" I add pressure to her knee.

" 'Guuuuaaaaah! Stop! Sto-! AAAAAAAAAH!' "

"Sorry, can't hear you over the sounds of your bones breaking" I stomp on her knee repeatedly.

" 'GUAAAAAAAH! GH! AAAAAAAAAH! GHAA! ARHG! F-FFUCCCCK!' "

*CRACK!*

"Seems, I've dislocated your knee… What's next on my list to break stuff…" I look at the hole on her stomach.

" '_Haa… haaa… hii… haa.. Hii… haa… _Y-You're not serious… are you…' "

"…Oh… This should be fun…" crouch down and join the tips of my fingers.

" 'H-hey m-man! Y-You're not going t-to…! We can talk about this right!? C'mon!' "

"I don't accept solicitations…"

" 'H-HEY! Y-you're going to kill her too! A-Aren't you her friend!?' "

"Yes, she is" I puncture through the hole on her stomach.

" 'GUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!' "

Cold and warm mixes in as I push my hand further inside. Something squishy and something that feels grotesque wraps around my hand. Her stomach muscle expands and shrinks, I can feel some small hard objects, probably the food that she ate. I feel through her stomach, her intestines, he liver, her spinal, her kidney, her esophagus, her hip bone. The organs all shifts around, as my hand feels its way through.

" 'Guuuh! Hiiiiii! Wh-What the hell are you l-looking for!' "

"…You'll see…" next, I'm feeling away through the bottom of her lungs. These almost hard things expand and rise quickly. Then, I feel something latch on to me.

" 'N-No! D-Don't!' "

"Gotcha…!" I then pull my hand with a jerk. The sudden most caused blood to get spilled all over the place. Her stomach area is bleeding too much with no hope of stopping. And in my hand, is a ball of black.

" 'Guaaaah… Gahk! Hagk! Ubugryaa!' " the madam coughs blood, but her eyes are dead.

"…!" it tries to move closer to my mouth, but one look in my 'eyes' made it stop.

Translation: Y-You…!

"…" I slowly put force on my fingers.

Translation: So... what's the message?

"…!"

Translation: Like hell I'll tell you!

"…" and with that, I put more force on fingers.

Translation: Wrong answer…

"…! …! …!" no way.

Translation: GAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! NOOOOOOOOOOO! STOOOOOOOOP!

"…! …!" I don't care.

Translation: IT HURTS! IT HURTS!

"…"

Translation: Goodbye

*SQKSH!*

As though crushing a fruit, I splatters blood when I crushed it. The blood splatters on my clothes and face, my hand swimming in blood. I can feel something hard in my hand. Opening my hand, reveals a gem, split in 2. It doesn't have the same brilliant sparkle as it I know it to have. Nor does it have a power symbol engraved in it.

'_Your sister is waiting for you…_'

"Sister… huh?" I let drop the split CPU memory. As my eyes return to normal, my instantly overclocks. As I return to my severely wounded friend here. Due to the fact that I pulled out her CPU memory, she returns to her normal self, but still no right arm and a hole on her stomach.

"…Hey, Plutie!" I quickly kneel beside her and lift her up.

" *cough!* *cough!*…Ja…rey…" she coughs up blood as she said weakly.

"…Wh…whe…ere… a…re y…?" her hand remaining hand wanders. She can't see…

"I'm here…" I grab her hand.

"…Ehehe… I…it's… warm-! *cough!* *cough!*"

"…I know…"

"…Nep…py…?"

"Plutie…*sniff!*" unexpectedly… everyone has gathered around us. Wether they're scorning me for this, I'll accept it.

"…Bl…Bla…nny…?"

"…I… I'm here…"

"…Vert…?"

"…I'm here…"

"…N…Nep…*cough!*…J…un…or?"

"…Mhm! *hic!*"

"…Now…rey…?"

"…I'm here…*sniff!*"

"…P…Pea..shy…"

"…*hic!* *sniff!*…Mhm!"

"…U…ni…?"

"…I *hic* I- Mhm!..."

"…Ram…? *cough!* *cough!*"

"*hic!* *hic!* …Me too!"

"R…*cough!* om…?"

"…Mhm! Mhm! I-*sniff!*-I'm here…!"

"…Ahaha… Th… they're all here…"

"…Ahahaha… They're all here…!" I can feel her hand loosing strength.

"Y... you know… I'm re…ally… happy…"

"…I made… so… many new… f… friends…! *cough!* *cough!*" the amount of blood in her mouth has increased.

"…We… p-played a lot… for so long…"

"...Every… day… was so fun…"

"We… played games…"

"…We raised… kids…"

"We… did birthdays…"

"We… made silly things…"

"We played in… the beach…"

"... We bat…tled some baddies…"

"We… made… lots and lots… of dolls…*cough!*…"

"…I remembered… I need to make dolls for… Uni and Rom… *cough!*…and Ram…"

"…I wonder... if they'd like it…?"

"…I want one! *hic!* *sniff!* I want to have a doll!"

"*sniff!* Uggh….! Mhm! *sniff!* *sniff!* M-me tooo!"

"*Sniff!* Me… three…! *Sniff!*"

"R…really… Thank… goodness…!" she smiled…

"…T-then… to… tomorrow… I'll make… some for you…"

"…And…then… L… Le…*cough!* *cough!*…let's all… play… together…"

"…Mhm!" the three chorused.

"I…really wanted… to… give… Blanny… that… book too…"

"*hic*...You can give it to me… tomorrow!"

"…Eh… really… but I… don't remember where I put it…"

"…*sniff!* *sniff!* L-Let's look for it tomorrow… you like adventures, right?"

"…M-mhm… Let's do that… Peashy…"

"*hic!* *sob!*"

"…Always be… a good… little girl… okay…?"

"Mhm!"

"…Eat your vegetables... too… and don't play… outside too much…"

"Mhm! Mhm!"

"D…don't play with… the dolls… too roughly…"

"Vert…"

"*sob!* Y…yes…?"

"P…please… take care… of Peashy…*cough*"

"…O-Of course…"

"…Noirey…"

"Y…yeah?"

"…I always… always… wanted to… thank you… for being… my friend…!"

"D…dummy…! *hic!*"

"…Neppy…. Jr…"

"Y…yes…! *hic!*"

"…I'm… r-really… sorry...f-for… always… teasing you…"

"…I-it's okay! *hic!* *sob!* It's okay!"

"Neppy…!"

"…P-Plutie…!" Neptune grasps her hand with mine.

"…I'm… r…really… happy…*hic!*"

"…T-that… you… c-came…*hic*… to… my world…"

"I… I made… lots and… lots… of friends… because… you came"

"Mhm! And we're going to make lots and lots of friends from tomorrow on!"

"I'm… really… looking forward to…*cough!* *cough!* *cakc!*" she pits out more blood.

"…I… I'm… really… sleepy now…"

"…H-hey… can… I… sleep…?"

"*hic!* *sob!* *hic!* Plutie…!"

"…I'm … really… sleepy…"

"*hic!* *hic!* Plooot!"

"…Yeah… you can…" I answered, gently as I could.

"…Ehe…Yay… Ah… Jarey…" her eyes, although cannot see, looks towards me.

"…I… love you…" and she gives a smile…

"…Y… yeah…!" I try to hold back my tears. But alas, I can't.

"…I'm going... to sleep…"

"Plutie! Plutie! P..please! *hic!* Please!"

"*sob!*"

"Uwaaaaah! Haaaaa!"

"*sniff!* HIWAAAAA!"

"…Let's… all… play… tomorrow…"

"…Plutie! Plutie! *sob!* PLEASE! PLU WWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"


	177. HDN Love Plus Plus (5)

Hyperdimension Neptunia Love Plus Plus:

_"YOU ASSHOLE!"_

_"…!"_

_Pseudo-Blanc punches me in the face. I didn't even bother to dodge considering what I did to her friend. But damn her punches are strong, it could break a wall if it wanted to._

_"YOU HORRIBLE PIECE OF SHIT!" grabbing my clothes, she lift me up and slams be back to the ground._

_"WHY!? HUH!? WHY THE HELL!?" pinning me down, she hits me over and over._

_"…! …! …!"_

_"WHY'D!? HUH!? WASN'T SHE YOUR FRIEND!?"_

_"…! …! …!" her punches increases in strength._

_"WHY!? WHY!? WHY!? WHY!?"_

_"…! …!...!"_

_"WAaaaaaah! Plutie! Plutie! *sob!*"_

_"Plooot! Huwaaa!" I hear they wailing of both Neptune and Peashy._

_"ANSWER YOU PIECE OF SHIT!"_

_"Blanc, stop that right now"_

_"GH! LET GO OF ME YOU THUNDER FUCKING TITS! I'LL KILL THIS BASTARD!"_

_"What good would it do!? She…!"_

_"Tch!" Blanc clicked her tongue audibly._

_"And you…!" her eyes are serious on me. The eyes of someone that wants to kill another. Reminds me of myself back in the day._

_"I don't know if it was the right decision… but surely there would have been a another way"_

_"There was… and it's by pulling that thing out of her body…"_

_"You…!" I stand up, before she could continue her sentence._

_*SLAP!*_

_"I hate you…!" and the moment I do, Noire slapped me her tears falling. That hurts…_

_ "…" I walk pass her._

_"…Wait, where are you going…?" then she blocks me._

_"…You don't have the right… to even come close…"_

_"…" I walk pass her._

_"…! I said…!" a sword then blocks me next._

_"…Don't worry… I'm not…" I walk._

_"UWAAAAAAAAAA! *Sob!* *Sob!* HUAAAAAAAA!"_

_"Plooot! Ploooot! *hic!*"_

_They're mourn continues. The urge to comfort them is rising significantly inside me. I want to hug them, I want to ease what they're all feeling right now. I made Neptune cry again. I want to stop her tears from flowing out. What the hell am I standing here for? She needs me. She needs me. She needs me..._

_"…" …but putting my foot in front of me, and repeating that step. I increase the distance between me and them. I head over to the edge, where a two certain long blue haired girls are sitting down._

_"H-Hello…" Pseud-Rei greeted._

_"…"_

_"W-we're sorry… for your lost…" Rei apologizes. Her Pseudo version holds her head._

_"…" I continue heading down the stairs._

_"...Tell us…" I stop…_

_"…was there really no other way?"_

_"…" …then I continue my descent._

_"Iffy, Compa…" on the ground, I greeted Iffy and Compa. They're eyes serious on me._

_"Jared" Iffy greeted back. Compa responds with a nod._

_"…It's good that both of you are safe…"_

_"I…" Iffy she holds her head dejectedly._

_"…Don't worry about. I'm the one killed her"_

_"But if I…!"_

_"More importantly, Iffy and Compa…" I lean over to their ears and whisper some things…_

_"…!"_

_"…!"_

* * *

"Mm…" the ceiling greets me in my hazy mind. My eyes slowly focus as I look around, as though it's looking for something. Slowly, my body regains energy and I'm able to move my arms and torso now. With that fact, processed into my head I get up.

"…" the small room greeted me silently. The room has nothing much to offer other than its thick cemented walls. The room's narrow with just one bed, a table and chair at the end and a window at the very end. The floor is made of wood, and the bed isn't all that comfortable compared to what I'm used to sleep in. Plus there isn't any form of a bath in each room, this place operates in a one bathroom policy. Therefore, if I'll have to fight my way through the other residents just so I could take a proper bath. Not only that, I need to take it in less than 10 minutes.

The light from the window tells me that it's morning. And hearing the sound of the bustling city, alive and cheery, strengthens that fact. Getting out of bed, I head over to the window and watch the city of Lastation go about its business.

They're usual very early morning start doesn't change. The crowd have started to walk to their own personal goals. Some walk, some run, some takes a bike to get there, and others use their vehicles. Some of them shouts their goods in their stores, working hard to give them attention and eventually buy their merchandise. Some people give out fliers, and some people are just takes a stroll.

It's been two weeks. Two weeks since that day. All my things are here with me, since there wasn't much stuff that I have in me, it was rather easy packing up and leave for that tower. The atmosphere was depressing, it was quiet all around and no one was willing to speak up. Histy tried to fill it in, but because of what I did, nothing seems to work.

Eventually, I decided to give them a little space. Histy tried to stop me, but I said to her that in these times we actually need to talk to ourselves. Nepgear didn't stop me, in fact she is avoiding me. Neptune was staying in her room the whole time, hugging a plush toy of Plutie. I left Planeptune on that day, and seek refuge here in this apartment.

Pseudo-Noire, Blanc and Vert are all still disgusted by what I did and said that they'll file a case against me. I don't mind being thrown in jail.

*Knock!* *Knock!*

A visitor? That's awfully rare. Must be some sort of assassin that wants to kill me. Not too surprising. Maybe I should let him kill me. Oh, that would be nice, that would be nice indeed. I prompt myself towards the door and open it to reveal who's behind it.

"…" it's a girl. Smaller than me, a teen that looks as though she's 14. She has short lilac hair with bangs that reach down to her collar bone and purple eyes. On her hair she wears white hair-clips in the shape of D-pads and around her neck is a choker that has a light blue D-pad symbol on it. She wears a mostly white hoodie dress that has a light purple hood, strings that look like controller plugs, and two huge purple and white pockets with purple D-Pad symbols on them. The sleeves have two light blue strips going all the way down while the front of the hoodie only contains one. The ends of the sleeves and the bottom of the hoodie have dark and light purple stripes. The zipper emblem and the back of the hoodie has a purple letter "N" to represent the first symbol of her name. She wears light blue and white striped thigh high socks with frills at the tops and her shoes are purple and blue.

"Neptune…" I say her name, noticing that her ring finger doesn't have a ring.

"Mhm…" she just nods, avoiding eye contact and hanging her head.

"…Come in" I said.

"Mhm…" I step to the side allowing her to step in and close the door. Sitting on the bed, I carry the chair, place it in front of her and sit on it.

"…"

"…"

We're silent. It's a first after a long while since we've become silent to each other.

"…"

"…"

Time moves slowly as our awkward silence continues. I continue to patiently wait for her to speak up, and maybe she's doing the same as well.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…Why…?"

"…"

"Why…?"

"…Because… there wasn't anything else to do" I answered honestly.

"…But…there had to be other ways to…"

"If there had been one… I would have bet on that…"

"…"

"But, there was nothing… that I could come up with, nothing at all…"

"…"

"Killing her is the only thing option I had…"

"…"

"..." I stop my mouth from moving.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…You know..."

"…"

"…I've always waited for you…"

"…"

"Always… always… always…"

"…"

"…Whenever, I could see the moon…"

"…"

"I always prayed that you'd come back…"

"…" pray…

"…Plutie always notices it though…"

"…" I can imagine…

"So I put up a big smile and tell her it's nothing…"

"…"

"…We always sleep and play… sleep then play… sleep then play…"

"…"

"…Plutie was always kind… and she always wear a smile…"

"…"

"She made lots and lots and lots of dolls… and gives it out to everyone…"

"…"

"…She gets worried really fast too…"

"…"

"…When I get 'sad'… she always give me a doll and tell me it's alright…"

"…"

"…She said… thank you… to me…"

"…"

"But… I… always… always… wanted to tell her that…!"

"…"

"…I wanted to tell… her…"

"…"

"…Thank you… And now…*hic!* *sob!*…Uggh…!"

"…!"

I hug her tight as her sobs gets muffled on my chest. This girl, how many times has she cried by now? How many times her wishes of a happy eternity were destroyed? Her wish was so simple and yet it cannot be granted. Why can't it be granted? I don't know the answer to that. But, her tears have surely bellowed the answer.

"…Jared…" she called after she her tears have died down.

"…"

"… They said, we should break up…"

"…"

"…because… you killed Plutie…"

"…"

"…Pseudo-Noire said that…"

"…"

"…Pseudo-Blanc said that she won't ever forgive you…"

"…"

"…Pseudo-Vert said that if she sees you next time, she'll surely kill you…"

"…"

"Nep Jr. hasn't said anything…"

"…"

"…Pseudo-Iffy said that she'll put you to prison…"

"…"

"Pseudo-Compa said she doesn't want to see you…"

"…"

"Little Histy said that she'll do whatever she can to return you to wherever you came from…"

"…"

"…"

"…And what about you…?"

"…"

"…What's your take in all this?"

"I…" she looks up to me, her purple eyes glistering with determination.

"I'll accept you"

"…" I'm at a loss for words. This time, I'm the one that's astonished.

"Are you… really sure...?"

"I… don't want to think complicated stuff… so I'll always do what I always do"

"Are you really sure?"

"Mhm!" she smiled. Ah… that smile…

"Because I'll still love you, no matter how you really are" it was the same smile…

"_Waaaaaa… It's so pretty…_"

On that starry night…

"_No matter what, Theodore!_"

I hug her tight. So tight that her temperature melts with mine. Why is this girl such a freaking handful? First, she plays around like fool, does whatever she freaking wants and considers herself as the main character. Then when you least expect it, she pulls and thugs on your heartstrings, putting you in tears.

Do you know why people cry? Not because we are sad. We cry because it turned out be more beautiful than we expected them to be. Alain de Botton.

"...Didn't I said that when we became lovers?" she whispered into my ear.

"Yeah, you did…"

"The moon is beautiful tonight"

"It surely is… and I'm sorry…"

"Mhm"

Time continues to walk as embrace each other. My tears fall as she rubs my back. How does she do it? I don't know. I'll never know. But because it's such a mystery, it makes it more moving, more aestheticized, more italicized. Pregnant with signification. My tears continue to fall.

"Thank you…"


	178. HDN Love Plus Plus (6)

Hyperdimension Neptunia Love Plus Plus:

"Mm… *Lick*… *Kiss*… Mmfhh… *Lick*…*Kiss* *Kiss*… mffhh… *Kiss* *Kiss*… Mm…"

I can feel the light breeze on my back. I can hear the distant noise of Lastation's busy day. Hearing closely, there seems to be music playing somewhere. A lovely duet of a piano and violin. Unhurried and undisturbed, a rich sound that almost feels like a whisper. A mother's lullaby to fall you to a deep happy slumber.

"Jared… Mm… *Kiss*… More… *Kiss* *Kiss*…Mffhh… *Kiss*…"

I have Neptune pinned on the bed. She accepts me greedily as used her tongue to change our kiss into one where our saliva mixed heavily together.

"Your tongue… feels good… *Kiss* *Kiss*…*Kiss*… Mm… *Kiss* *Kiss*… *Slurp*…"

I maintained a bit of distance, not allowing our lips to meet as we twined our tongues.

"Mm *Lick*…*Slurp* *Slurp*… It's sweet… *Lick*"

She comments as we kiss, letting off sweet sighs.

"*Kiss*…*Kiss* *Kiss*… *Slurp*…*Kiss* *Kiss*…Mcchh…*Slurp*…*Slurp* *Slurp*…"

Her tongue's motions were bewitching; it slowly wrapped around my own, providing me with an exquisite degree of pleasure with how we how wet with saliva it was.

"Mm… Fh, fhh… *Kiss* *Kiss*…*Kiss* *Kiss*…*Liiiick*…Mmm… *Kiss*…Kchh… *Lick*…"

"Mm*Lick*…*Kiss* *Kiss*…*Kiss*… Mm… *Slurp*…*Lick*… Mm *Lick*…*Lick*…*Liiiick*…"

She was better than before. Significantly better. I could feel blood rushing to my head, making me dizzy.

She'd lick at my lower lip and use the plump surface of her tongue to rub against my own. I could feel blood beginning to gather in my penis as a result…

I pin her tongue down and began to wrap my own around it. I locked her tongue with my lip, pushing my saliva against it with my tongue.

"Mmffhh… Mffhh… *Kiss* *Kiss*…*Lick*…*Liiiick*… *Liiiiicck* *Lick*"

"Mmm… *Lick*… It feels good… Your tongue… Your kiss… Hehe… It feels good… *Kiss*…"

She's entranced, coming after me with a deeper kiss. Her tongue wriggled about passionately, providing me with even more pleasure.

"*Lick*…*Lick*…*Suck* *Suuuuccckk*…Hehe…*Suck**Suck*…Mfhh… Fuhah… Ahn… *Kiss**Kiss*…"

"…Kh… Fh, uu…!"

I let off low grunts from how good it felt to have do my mouth.

"I love you… hehe… Haha… *Slurp*…*Slurp* *Slurp*…*Kiss*…*Kiss*…*Kiss*…*Kiss* *Kiss*…*Slurp*…*Kiss*…*Kiss*…*Kiss**Kiss*"

I can feel that I'm close to being swept away by the shiver-inducing pleasure her kiss was providing. She not only licked at the underside of my tongue, but also traced her tongue along my teeth.

"*Mm…*Kiss* *Kiss*…*Kiss*…*Kiss*…*Kiss**Kiss*…*Slurp*…*Kiss*…*Kiss**Lick*…"

"Mm…*Sluuuurrrpp*…*Kiss*…*Kiss!* *Sluuuurrrppp*…*Lick**Lick**Liiiiick*…*Kiss*…*Kiss!*"

My tongue was practically drowning from a flood of saliva causing sparks of pleasure to fly in my head.

My penis was getting hard from how good it felt. Blood begin to concentrate in my shaft, and precum was starting to ooze out. I was losing my chance to get back at her and counter attack.

"*Kiss* *Kiss*…*Kiiiiisssss*…*Lick*…*Lick*…Pchh… *Lick**Lick**Liiicckk*…*Lick*…"

"*Kiss*…*Lick*…*Slurp**Slurp*…Mm…*Sluuurrrpp*…Kch…*Kiss*…*Kiss**Kiss*…*Slurp!*"

"Mmgh…?"

I suddenly sealed our lips together and then invaded her mouth with my tongue.

"Mmm…*Kiss*…*Kiss*…*Slurrrrppp*…Mm…Mmm…*Kiss*…*Kiss!*"

"Mm *Kiss*…*Kiss*…Mmm…*Kiss*…*Sluurrpp*…!"

I invaded her mouth with my tongue, licking at her palate, tracing my tongue along her teeth and lightly biting her lower lip. Her mouth accepts my assault.

"*Kiss*…*Sluurrrpp!* Mmm…*Kiss**Kiss*…Mmm *Kiss!*"

"Jared…Mm*Kiss*…*Kiss*…*Kiss**Kiss*…*Kiss!*"

Seems she wants to say something, but I quickly seal it off.

"Mmm…*Kiss**Kiss!**Slurp*…Mmm… *Kiss*…*Kiss**Kiss*…!"

"*Kiss* *Kiss*…*Kiss*…Mmmffhhhmm…*Kiss*…*Kiss*…*Slurp**Slurp*…*Kiss!*"

"Kfffhhhh… Mmmm…*Kiss* *Kiss*…*Kiss* *Kiss*…Mmm… *Kiiisss**Kiss!*"

Finding her tongue, I then begin to voraciously stroke it.

"Fffhhh… Mmmm! Mmm! Fffhhhh! Mmm *Kiss* *Kiss* *Kiss!*"

I flicked at her palate with my tongue and teased at the back of her teeth. Not only that, but I even played with the floor of her mouth, under her tongue. Doing this caused her mouth to begin to tremble slightly.

"Mmm! Fffhh! *Kiss* *Kiss!* *Kiss!* Uhhnnn! *Kiss!* *Kiss!*"

She began to try to squirm her way out of this kiss. I might know why… but pretending I didn't pay any heed to that, I seal her lips even more. Nibbling them, rubbing her mouth and stroking her tongue with my own.

"*Kiss* *Kiss!* *Kiss!* Uuuu! *Kiss* *Kiss!* *Sluurrpp!* *Kiss!*"

I flooded her mouth and tongue with a sea of saliva as I deeply entwined my tongue around hers.

"*Kiss**Kiss!* *Kiss!* **Kiss**Kiss* *Kiss**Lick!**Sluurrrrpppp!* *Kiss!*"

I forced her trembling tongue down as I do her heated.

"Mmm! *Kiiissss!* *Sluuurrrp!* *Kiss!* *Kiss* *Kiss!* *Sluuurrrrpppp!*"

"Mmm *Kiss!* *Kiss!* *Kiss* *Kiss!* Uuhhnn! Uuuhhnnn! *Kiiiisss!*"

"*Kisssss!* *Kiiiiiissssss!* *Kiss!* Uuuuuuuuuuubhh *Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiisssssssssssss!*"

"UUUUuUUUUUUUUU! UUUUGHHHHHHUUUFFFFGGGGHHHHHHHHH! UUUuUUUUUUU!"

Her tongue squirmed about and her body began to convulse. The pleasure she was experience in her mouth was great as she cums. I continue my kisses despite that.

"UUuuuuuugggghhhh! *Slluuurrrrrrp!* Uuhhnn! *Kiss* *Kiss**Kiiiiiiisssss!*"

"Mufhaah! _Haahaaah…_ W-Wai… I came… I just came… So-!"

"Fgghhh! Uuuuggghhhhh!"

I seal her lips again. Thrusting my tongue deep inside of her mouth and stimulated various parts of it, I wrapped my lips around her tongue and sucked it into my mouth. Following that, I nibbled slightly on it as it trembled in orgasm.

"MmmmmmmMMMMMGGGHHHH! 'MmmffffgggghhhhbbbbbnnnnnNNNNNHHHH! HMMBBNNNNNNNNNGGGHH!' "

" 'Ugiifhh… Fgghhh… Uuuffgghh.. Uuu… Ubh… Oooohh… Obhh… Ffhhghh… Uuu..!' "

" 'Fh, uu…' "

After separating from her, I see that she transformed into her HDD self, naked as well. Her eyes are out of focus, a shade of red on her face, she breathes heavily. Between her legs have so much liquid that there's a giant stain on the bed.

"How's your first time cumming while kissing?"

" '…You bully…_haa… haa… _I told you… to… stop…' "

"Sorry, sorry. Couldn't help myself…"

" 'Each and every time, you always say that' "

"Really? Didn't know it became a habit of mine"

" '…Meanie' "

"Well, if you look at the bright side, you're wet enough…" I scrape of some of the liquid on her thighs. It's sticky and moist even as I spread my fingers.

"…See?" I show it to her.

" '…Don't tease me. I really want it right now…' "

Responding to such a request from her, I help her get on all fours on the bed. I hoist up her white butt as bit, showing her anus and vagina to me. I take off my hard manhood from is confines, cowper oozing out from the tip.

" 'Wait… we're going to do it like this…!?' "

"Can't see why not?"

I aim it with one hand and rub the tip on her wet entrance. Once it opens up to me, I slowly push in.

" 'Ffffhhh… Ahh… Faahnnn… Mmmfhh… Ahn…' "

Her walls, flooding in her fluids, gently embraces my dice as I thrust it in.

" 'Mmfahh… Mm… Haahh…' "

" 'My pussy… feels so good… when you're this gentle…' "

A sweet honeyed moan escape her lips. My hips starts moving on their own, seeking out such a voice from her.

" 'Mmah… Aahh… Fhhfaaahhnnn… Mmaahh… Aahhnnn… It feels… good…' "

Seeing her nape from here, I lean close to it and lick at it while I thrust my hips.

" 'Aaahhh… Ffhhfaahh… I can't tell… which feels good… Aahh… Fhhh… Kfffhhfhh... Fhhnnn…' "

" 'Licking my nape… mmfhh… Mmahh… feels good too… Hahhnnn…' "

I plowed through her wet pussy with my dick. Mixing slight assertion and gentleness on her deepest parts.

" 'It feels so good… rubbing inside… like that… aahhh… Kkhhnnn…Fhh…' "

" 'Ffhhffaahh… Ahhnnn… Aahhh… Aaahhh… It's so deep… Fhhnnn… Fahh…' "

Her inside softly loosened up as I stirred around with my rod. Every fold of her pussy seemed to be sucking on my dick like a tiny tongue wrapped around it.

" 'Aahhh… Aahhnnn… Ffhhfahh… Ahhh… Hahahh.. Aahhh… Mm… Hah… Aahhhnnn… Mmahh…' "

Her voice began to get more shrill and heated as her slender hips rocked back and forth in rhythm with my thrusting, as though jumping up on their own.

Pushing myself up, I hold her hips with both hands and pull my dick out until the tip is in the entrance then thrust it in rigorously.

" 'Fh, faaaah… Aaaaahhhnnn! Aaaah… That's… so good… Your dick's so deep' "

Her saccharine-sweet moans echoed throughout the empty classroom as wet noises rang out from our point of connection.

" 'Aahh… Aahhhnnn… Aahh… Aaaaahhh… Aahhh!' "

Poking at the entrance to her womb caused the back of her vagina to tremble and cling to my penis as it expanded. The entrance to her womb was literally sucking at my glans.

" 'Aaahhh… My womb… wants your penis… Aaaaafffhh… FaaaaAaAAAaaahhhhnnn!' "

Her reaction made me rub against the entrance of her womb with my glans even more strongly. Her voice rang out even louder as the entirety of her vagina clung to my penis and her womb opened up.

" 'Your… dick feels so good… I'm gonna go mad… I'm gonna go crazy…! Aaahh… FaaAAahhhnnn… Aaahhnn!' "

"Me too…!" my mind grows hazy.

" 'It feels so goooodddd! AaAAahhh! I-I… can't take it anymore… I'm going to go crazy!' "

Clearly drowning in pleasure. Her voice sings out sweet words. I thrust even faster, my focus in a haze.

" 'AaAAaFaAAAAahh! AaAAAAahhh… MmaAAahhh…I don't know what's what anymore…! Aaah!' "

Her vagina and the entrance to her womb vigorously stroke my dick in an effort to make me reléase my cum. I reach out to her breasts to try to distract me from urge to ejaculate burning through my abdomen.

" 'Nh… Aaaaaaaanh, Jared that's…. Aaaaafh… nnh, haaaaaah….' "

When I flicked the hardened tips of her breasts, she let out a cute moan.

" 'Aaaaaaaankh… aaah, J-Jared…! D-don't…' "

" 'I….aaaanh! Nkh! Nn, aaaaahahn… Fuaaaaah!' "

I didn't slow my hips even while I drowned myself in the soft sensation of her supple breasts.

" 'Kffhhhhn… Ufffhhh… Aaaaahhn! Mmmmaaaah… Haaahhuuhh… Ah… Faaahhhnn!' "

Neptune seemed to squeeze me tighter in response to my hands on her breasts.

The urge to ejaculate I'd been enduring until now only strengthened, seeming to burn through my brain and boil up every drop of blood in my body.

" 'Aaaaaaahn… Fuaaaaaaaah…. Aaaaahh… Kfffhhfaah… Aaahhhnnn…' "

" 'Aaaahh… Jared… Jared…!' "

" 'Nkhaaaaa….nnh… aaaaaaah…. Aaaaaaaahhh…. Aaaaaaahn!' "

My desire relentlessly washed over me like fierce wave.

" 'MmfaAaaahn! AAaaaaaah! Aaaahfaaaah… Aaaaaahn…' "

" 'Aaaaaaakh… nfuaaaaaaaah, Aaaaaaaaaaaah!' "

Neptune panted, her trembling hands clutching the sheets as she tried to endure the waves of pleasure.

The love juice flowing from between us dripped down heavily to the disarrayed bed, dampening the sheets even more.

"Ugh… ah, Neptune…"

" 'Mmhaaaah… J-J… Aaaaahn…! Fhhfaaaahh… Aaaaaah! I'm gonna cum… I'm about cum…!' "

Her voice pushed me to my limit, her scent filling the room destroyed my sense of reason.

A feverish, sweet numbness seemed to rush through my brain and spine, letting me know I was near climax.

" 'Aaaaaaaaahn… fuannnh! Aaaaahm, aaaaaah…!' "

" 'AaaaaAAaaaaakh… Nnnnh' aaaaah… mhfaaaaaaah! Nnnnnh!' "

"Jared…! Jared…! Mfuaaaaaaaaaah! AAaaaaafhh! Aaaaah!' "

The moment her wall squeezed tight around me, I hold her hips and pull her in as I thrust fiercely inside her.

" 'Fuaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!' "

"Kh…."

The swollen tip of my dick exploded in the back of her vagina as she reached climax. The tip pressed right against the entrance against of her womb and sent all my semen directly inside of it as a result.

"Aaaaaaaaaaah…. Hihaaaaaaaah… so hot… My insides are so hot… faaaaaaaah!"

A voice of ecstasy escaping her, her pussy constricts wringing even more semen out of it.

" 'There so much… I'm going… to get pregnant…' "

Taking a peak at her face, she lets out a heated breaths and her expression one of rapture.

" 'Fh… uu…' "

Taking my dick out, her butt falls on the bed. Her body releases tension resting for a while.

In corner of my eyes, I see a peculiar small object on the bed. It must have fallen out of her hoodie's pocket while we were kissing earlier.

Taking that object, I turn her around to face me with much of a resistance from her. Her face is clearly enjoying the afterglow, her eyes out of focus. I take her hand…

"Neptune…" I call out her name. Her eyes, looks around before it finally meets mine.

" '…Yeah?' "

"…I know it's very late to ask this..." I gently put the object into her ring finger.

"…Will you marry me?"

" '…It's too late to ask me that now' "

"I know. With all that's been going on… I didn't find the right time to say ask it"

" 'Mhm…' "

"So will you…?"

" '…I don't know. I mean you, majority doesn't approve of you now' "

"Yeah… that's true… even if I apologize I'd be sent straight to miserable gore"

" '…But even then…' " she admires the ring on her finger.

"Hrm?"

" 'I'd rather be with you in hell that in heaven without…' " a brilliant ring with small purple diamonds shine.

" '…So yes! Let's be together forever and forever!' "

But her smile shines even more radiantly.


	179. HDN Love Plus Plus (7)

Hyperdimension Neptunia Love Plus Plus:

"_Ho? You really did it huh?_"

_"Croire…"_

_"Hehehe. Look at what you did? Isn't that a pretty sight?"_

_"…" I look behind me for a brief moment._

_"So what's your plan then? You plan to be my next kill of the day?" I ask as 'look' at the fairy in the eyes._

_"Nope. That's not on my agenda today, I just wanted to say high and all that"_

_"I see" I _would_ like to squeeze out every info you know._

_"You can go now, you fermenting piece of turd"_

_"Ehehe… Don't mind if I do" it floats up._

_"Also..." it stops to hear what I'm going to say._

_"Do be careful or a 'monster' might just eat you up"_

* * *

"Ah, Jared, Neptune. Welcome home"

"We're home Histy!"

"I'm home"

Histy greeted us as we both enter the giant living room, which I call the LDS room. She's apparently sitting on top of a mountain of papers on the study table.

Setting my luggage to the side, I sit on the sofa immediately and heave a sigh of relief. Man, getting home was hard. I'm carrying Neptune on my back, since she said that she was tired. Fought off some monsters, but eventually they became too much to handle so I ran away. Then, I have to dive down a waterfall. Yeah, I'm never trusting Neptune with directions ever again.

"Histy, Histy guess what happened yesterday"

"Hrm? I believe you went away and left a pile of work?" she smiles. It would be called cute, if her smile wasn't that sarcastic.

"Jared and I are getting married!"

"…That's good. But you still need to do work"

"And, and we're going to get married in a year or so since we have to prepare the kinks and stuff"

"You have more time to prepare if you do your work"

"So is it okay if I take a break from work, Histy? I mean we need to do all the preparations and stuff"

"THAT IS NOT AN EXCUSE!"

"Nepu! Who pops Histy's head off?"

"You. And no I'm not helping since I'm tired" I relax on the bed. Hrm? Oh it's the remote. Time for some TV, yay. Oh hey, it's the news…

"Eh!? Nepu? Don't leave me alone-as-Noire!?"

"NEPTUNE…!"

"NEEEEPPPUUUUU!"

* * *

_"…Histoire" Nepgear says the fairy's name as she rises on the bed._

_"Nepgear..." Histoire noticed the expression on her face. It's an expression that she doesn't wore too often. It's not an expression of worry, it's not an expression of sadness and it's not an expression of anger. It's disappointment. Disappointment of what? Disappointment at herself. Disappointment at, what she seemed to believe her Big Brother._

_"Jared, had just left…"_

_"…"_

_"It will take a while before he can come back. I believe he needs some space too…"_

_"…Space?"_

_"He said, you two sisters needs some space"_

_"…Why…?"_

_"Hrm…?" Histy is confused of the question._

_"…Why is he so nice…? And so cruel at the same time?" Nepgear looks down, a shadow over her face._

_"I was in your position once… years ago…" she remembers what happened in Celestia._

_"…Do you want to hear a story?" Histy floats towards the girl and settles herself on the bed comfortably. She can see Nepgear's face clearly in this seat._

_"A story?"_

_"I only know a little bit of detail, and it's not a happy ending either… but do you still want to hear it?"_

_"Mhm…" somehow, Nepgear has a vague idea of how this story goes, but she still asks._

_"What's the story about?"_

_"It's a story of how one person cheated on the world…"_

* * *

*Knock!* *Knock!*

"Uni? You've been holed up in there too long! Hey, Uni!" Noire knocks on the door to her little sister's room. But silence only responded to her.

Uni has been holed up for the last 2 weeks. Her workload for the past 2 weeks are rising. Noire lets it go since she just came back from a final boss battle and tries to dwindle it down a bit so Uni won't get overwhelmed when she comes out. But with no extra hands to help her, it's proving too difficult to keep up her daily quotas.

"…Is it about him?"

"…!"

Of course, Noire knows what happened that day. She remembers the girl named Plutia even if they're exchange were brief. To her, she was nice girl and learning that she died by the passerby's hands. Her little sister must've seen a spectacular sight. Although the news were concealed from the general public until everything is settled.

"…Uni, do you hate him?"

"…I don't know…" her little sister answered.

"…But what I saw… what I heard…" Uni can't take the scene out of her head. Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood. Screams of agony. Screams of malice. Hearing the final breaths of a person. The cries. The anger. The tears. All those things keeps her awake at night.

"…I understand. Believe me, it also gave me nightmares" she remembers what happened on Celestia. And what she saw was also a spectacular sight.

"…I heard that those two are getting married in a year from now…"

"The others are going to go greet them, so I'm going too. Not like I wanted to anyways. So do you want to come with me?"

* * *

"Big Sis…"

"…What is it Rom? I'm still here…" Blanc said on the bedside chair.

It's night. Rom and Ram are trying to sleep on the grand bed side-by-side. But because of some recurring nightmares. Worried for their health, the Big Sister was forced to stay with them until they both fall as asleep. A book and a dim light would help her pass the time as well.

Tonight, it seems Rom was the only one that calls out to her Big Sister. Rom is snoring away.

"…Do you still have nightmares?"

"Mhn…" she nods.

"…I see" in this slight pause. Blanc thinks up a million of things inside her head on how to make these her fall asleep. It's bad for their health if they don't sleep properly all. Her eyes examine every part of the room looking for things to help them sleep better. Eventually, her eyes fall on the bed and its two occupants. There's something missing in this scene…

"…Ah, maybe that would work…" putting her book down, she stands from her chair and brigthens the lights of the twins' room.

She heads to one of the baskets full of stuff animals beside their wardrobe. She pulls up her sleeves and digs through them, feeling her way until she gets her objective. Rom wanted to say ask what she was looking for since she knows where each of their toys are located. After a few minutes, Blanc finally pulls out what she wanted to pull out. Dimming the lights, she walks back towards her little sister and gave the stuff animal to her.

"…It's bunny that Big Sis gave…"

"…Mhm… you'd sleep better if you have it by your side…"

"…Will my nightmares go away?"

"…It will. Now go to sleep, it's getting late…"

"Mhm…" the little girl closes her eyes, and hugs the bunny beside her.

"…" Blanc resumes to her reading until she is sure that these two are finally asleep.

That bunny was the same bunny that he gave her years ago. But she'll tell them that some other time…

* * *

"Congratulations Jared" someone pats my back.

"Hrm? Hey there, Iffy. Shopping for something, as well?" I let my pace down to match hers, as we walk and talk.

"Not really, I'm going to my workplace"

"I heard that the Guild is having a rough time these days"

"Yeah. Lately, I've got a lot more papers to go through… so that's why I didn't come when all the CPUs gathered"

"Vert misses you…"

"L-Lady Vert did…!?"

"…Dunno. Lately she's been targeting that young one that we raised on the other side…"

"Gh…!" she's depressed.

"C'mon. Don't be sad. You're cute, so maybe you can win her back with it…"

"I-I'm not saying anything like that!"

"Haha… kidding, kidding" I pet her head. It's been a while since I've last did it to her.

"…Anyway, how are things with you lately?" Iffy asked.

"Not that good. I've got like 5 people that wants me gone now, one of them is seemingly creating a blackhole…"

"Th…that's bad…"

"We might face another world crisis soon. I fear for my heart…"

"...You've got it rough…"

"It's rough being a passerby"

"And with Gear and the other candidates?"

"Nepgear is responding to me. Uni is giving me looks. Rom is terrified of me. And Ram treats me as the final boss" yeah… not that good.

"Ahaha… That's kinda bad…"

"I know right. Well, they'll recover over time. So I'm not rushing them…" time is the most power force after all.

"How about you?" I ask her.

"Hrm?"

"Are you scared?"

"No"

"Oh?"

"We've been through thick and thin. So I know what you're really like…"

"Heh…well this looks like our split…" I said stopping at an intersection.

"Oh, you're right"

"Want to visit tonight? I'll be cooking you're favorite"

"I'm not a kid, you know. But sure, I'll bring Compa along as well"

* * *

"Here's the invitation letter they sent" Pseudo-Noire puts it on the table.

"You received one too…" Pseudo-Vert said.

"…Like I'm ever going to that murderer's wedding" Pseudo-Blanc is still disgusted.

"Indeed. (人)"

Half a year had passed since then. It seems time is here is flowing at the same rate as the one on the other side. So if it's half a year for the 4 it's half a year for them too. The 4 of them have gathered on the well carpeted floor of their regular of the living area. Pseudo-Iffy, Pseudo-Compa and Peashy are all asleep.

"I know Neptune's an idiot… but marrying him even though he killed her" Pseudo-Noire comments.

"…She's a real idiot"

"Why haven't we claimed Plutia's body yet? ヽ(゜Q。)ノ？"

"She's in their morgue. The Iffy and Compa over there said that it might get damaged during travel" Pseudo-Vert answered.

"…We can just take it away" Pseudo-Blanc said.

"Let's not. It would cause even more disturbance" Pseudo-Vert said.

"If only we haven't met him. Then this whole thing never happened to her…" Psuedo-Noire sadly said. Deeply regretting everything.

"No, if we only stopped him during that fight. Then she would still…"

"…I told you, you should have let me killed him off"

"I regret ever trusting him. o( )o"

"We all are"

* * *

There was this hospital that Compa works at. The location of it was near the city edge, its purpose for such a location was for those to care who have suffered from their quests or from travelling from one country to another. Over the past year, cases of such have been rising. As such, if the hospital were to be analogized as a hotel, they're always fully booked.

Therefore, Compa, being the kind helpful girl as she is, works there despite the 3 hour drive via taxi.

During, Rei's wrath on that day, that hospital was overflowing with patients. Not only is emergency lobby is filled and even the hallways on each floor are just filled with patients after patients. Even if there were emergency tents outside the city itself, that too is also filled with people.

After the incident have died down, the number of patients they accommodated have decreased. Leaving only the ones that were heavily wounded to recover from said incident. Although there are some patients in the hallways.

Lately, for the past 6 months, after the incident, the hospital has been abuzz about some sort of riddle. The riddle stemmed from what happened in the incident. No one knew what its origin was nor why did it warrant such a buzz. The details of the riddle were hazy and it's even hazier when it's passed on.

The common details are this:

1\. An operation.

2\. A group of people.

3\. Banks were robbed.

4\. It took at least 15 tries.

No one can crack that riddle. Eventually, the riddle became some sort of a game and a good pass time for those riddle enthusiasts.

Compa, wearing her nurse outfit, watches as the elevator rise towards her destination. When the elevator stops, she enters the hall. She walks pass the many doors that greet her along the way. Her pace is fast, a sign that she's walked these halls so many times.

She reaches her destination. She knocks once then twice before entering the room.

A light breeze. A single patient. The room is spacious to fit as many people as it could. The window is open letting the curtain sway with the wind. The patient inside watches the city below enjoying the breeze.

"Hello, how are you doing today?" Compa greets.

"…" she doesn't answer. But instead still looks at her city.

"…What are you looking at?"

"…"

"…Do you think the city looks nice?"

"…"

"…What do you like about it?"

"…"

"…Do you want to see something more beautiful?"

"…" the patient looks at her nods.

"...Hrmm… There's the cherry trees, let's look at it when it's the season! Oh! And my best friend is getting married at that time! Want to watch it too!"

"…" the patient smiled excitedly.


	180. Final Chapter

Final Chapter:

_"Nep! We're late!"_

_"Uwaaah! IF!"_

_"Gear?"_

_IF busted through the door thinking that it was her best friend that was on the other side, although this one is also her best friend, but it's not what she was expecting. Dumbfounded and slightly embarrassed to what she did, she asked as though nothing had transpired._

_"Where's Nep?"_

_"I don't know, she was just here a minute ago with Mina…"_

_"Damn that Nep, she's going to ruin the wedding dress!" IF runs off._

_"Ah! IF… and she's gone…" Nepgear sighed and returns to fixing herself in front of the mirror._

_Today is a very special day for her big energetic sister after all. But even with that she hasn't smiled in the least. It's a new complicated feeling she's having right now. Is it because her sister is getting married? Is it because she is marrying such a person? Is it because she feels that her sister is going to place that she can't reach? Or is it because she hasn't settled her feelings towards the person that she's going to marry._

_The pass year, she's been able to respond to Jared. Although the two have not been able to talk in length just like before, for him it's a good start. It may have helped that because of Histoire's story telling that she's able to see him in a different lens. But still, she can't forget what he did that day. The color of red. The tears. And it's cries. How could she? It was haunting her even now._

_*Knock!* *Knock!*_

_A knock on the door came. She quickly arranges her facial expression and allowed the knocker to come in._

_"Come in" the knocker opens the door._

_"...Nepgear, you ready? We're about to leave" the passerby said peeking into the room._

_"Mhm, I'm just about to...Ah!" she must have thought that she's wearing her regular shoes and had forgotten that fact that she's wearing high heels._

_"Woops… Not used to wearing heels, I guess?" the passerby catches her before she could have fall. Causing her to lean on his chest._

_"Mhm… I can't seem to find my balance" he helps her stand up. Putting a bit of distance between them._

_"Now that I've gotten a good look at you, you look darn awfully cute" the passerby says his honest feelings._

_"Eeeh! I-I'm not…!" Nepgear couldn't help but blush._

_"Come on, be confident in yourself"_

_"B-But I…"_

_"They do say that a woman is incomplete without the compliment. So give me that billion credit smile"_

_"R-really?" she blushes even more as she looks away, a smile on her lips._

_"Oh? You look even cuter when you blush more. It adds effect to your makeup" he continues to say his honest feelings._

_"Stop it, geez now you're just teasing me Big Brother!"_

_"Finally got you to say 'Big Brother'…"_

_"…Eh?"_

_"…You've been stiff the entire time. Look…" she looks at herself in the mirror. And what she saw in the mirror, although it wore an expression shock, was a woman whose face is blooming. Compared to what she looked before he came here, it was miles apart from what she's seeing right now._

_"See? Don't you look cute right now?" the passerby enters the mirrors frame._

_"Mhm!" Nepgear smiles at that fact. The passerby is pleased with his efforts._

_"Hey, Big Brother…" she turns around facing the passerby._

_"Yeah?"_

_"...I'm sorry"_

_"No need to apologize"_

_"And…"_

_"Hm?"_

_"Please make my Big Sis happy" she smiles at him. A heartfelt smile._

_"Yeah, will do, Little Sis"_

_Just for today, Nepgear would think of this person as her Big Brother. But when tomorrow's challenges come, well, she'll leave that to tomorrow's Nepgear._

* * *

There's a famous park in Planeptune that only blooms once a year. Although there wasn't any name given to the park, the locals call the park, Cherry Park. Granted because the trees on that park are all cherry trees. It seems the one that planned this park was loves the Cherry Trees, as it was under the pink petals of those trees that her child was born, and so the story goes.

When it was the season of spring comes. Every man, woman and child would come and visit and spend at least an hour or so. The warm breeze, the joyous laughter of children. It was a nice getaway from the usual gray-busy hour of the day. An hour to recollect themselves and fill their eyes with color.

Today, is a special occasion for the citizens of Planeptune. The country is blessed with nice weather all day and a good breeze to boot. All the people are entering the park in their best attires. The men and boys are in gallant suits, and the women and girls are in lovely dresses. Each person expecting something from the event their attending.

In a big open field, surrounded by cherry trees and carpeted by its petals there is a big cherry tree near the far edge. The seats are arranged facing the tree and give space to a large aisle in the middle that connects to the tree and two white tents that are next to each other.

The aisles have flower stands filled with flowers that are placed in set intervals, and connecting each is a white ribbon. Beside the tree is a pianist playing on a grand piano in duet with a woman violinist. To keep the guess entertained as they wait for the main event, they play a Kreisler's Love's Joy. They do get a round of applause from the audience.

The guests keeps coming, and more are still to come. They all take their respective seats, minding not to take front row seats as they are reserved. And although the guest seats are many, there are still more guest to come. The officials on the side accommodate them by giving them seats and are giving them free will to sit wherever they want other than the marked areas.

The music ends once more, and the stir in the crowds have gone quiet. The light rustle of the trees and the petals the dance with the wind, a seemingly serene sight. And they all wait for the cue music to come in, a fairy sitting on a book floats down from under the big cherry tree.

The fairy hovers down, some are shocked, some are weirded out, some chuckled, some thinks it's a joke and some are in awe. The fairy is wears a white gown, she has white thigh high socks matching with her white shoes. And her hair, instead of twin pigtails, is tied to a single pigtail. She levels with the mic, and all the small chatter on the crowd have grown quiet. She smiles as she sees the crowd.

"Let us begin" her motherly sort of tone rang throughout the whole park and echoed throughout the country. The pianist puts his fingers on the keys and the violinist plays her violin. The musical ensemble starts. Edward Elgar's Salut D' Amour sings its colorful melody.

The crowd looks behind them their eyes anticipating what would come out of those tents. Waiting for the right time, the officials on the sides opened the tents. On cue, two people comes out from the tents, one on each. The Groom, the passerby, links arms with his chosen Best Man, but in this case, it should be called Best Woman, IF.

The two walk on the middle aisle, the audience's eyes locked on to them.

The passerby wore a white long sleeved shirt, with a pink tie and vest. His coat, his trousers and his shoes are white as well. IF wore a general kind of look. Wearing a white and blue overcoat on a black vest over a frilled front white shirt underneath it. She changed her leafy hair accessory and turned it into a four petal flower. And weirdly, she's wearing shorts and boots.

They both have smiles on their faces, as though this was an ordinary part of the day. Seemingly relaxed and calm. They even have small talk under their breaths, complaining a little how long the aisle is. And how pretty the cherry blossoms are. And how nerve wracking this event is. And on the corner of his eye he sees a group of people staying hidden in between the trunks of the cheery trees.

* * *

"_…You guys came…_" _they just nod at him without giving him any eye contact._

"_Don't get the wrong idea. We didn't come here because of you, we came here because it's Neptune's special day_" _Pseudo-Noire answered._

"..._This time she actually meant it_" _Pseudo-Blanc adds._

"_After this is over we're going to file cases against you and reclaim Plutia's body_" _Vert said._

"_Not going to wait after we came back from our honeymoon?_" _he asked jokingly._

"_You don't have the right to become happy_" _she adds._

_"...I know" he doesn't need anyone to remind him of that. The fact that he's _special_ is a recurring reminder for him._

_"I know that _all_ too well" but if someone's offering me one, why can't he have it?_

_"Ah…! You!"_

_"…Hiii!"_

_"There, there"_

_"Jared! _( ﾟДﾟ)＜!_"_

_"Oh, it's you guys" he looks behind and saw, Mini-Histy, Pseudo-IF, Pseudo-Compa and Peashy. Peashy hides behind Compa at the sight of him. _

_"Hyaaaaa!" Pseudo-IF lunges towards her bringing out her Qatars. She gets close enough and swings it towards my neck. _

_"…"_

_"Kh…!" her Qatar stops. It's tip pointing almost touching at his neck._

_"…Why?"_

_"Hm?"_

_"Why did you kill her!?" she looks at me with streams of tears falling from her eyes._

_"Wasn't there any other way other than to take her life!? _（;≧皿≦）_" Mini-Histy's shouts as well._

_"…If there was, she could still be here with you lot right about now" he answers _

_"And what was that thing that took over her body!_ (;｀O´)o"

_"…Dunno"_

_"Gh! Don't mess with me!" Pseudo-IF_

_"But even if there was something…!"_

_"Histy. I did what I could. Sadly that was the end result"_

_"KH! I'll never, ever forgive you!_ (*｀Ω´*)"

_"…"_

_"No matter what happens! I'll never ever forgive you!_ (●o≧д≦)o"

_"…Really?"_

_"I'll find a way to send you back to wherever you came from for good!"_

* * *

The music continues to play as the crowd watches the two heads towards the end of the aisle, under the big cherry tree. They take their places on fairy's left eagerly waiting as well.

The next two people that came out of the tents are the Lastation sisters. Each holding a small bouquet of flowers. Side by side, and on cue by the colorful musical performance they walk the aisle giving their best smiles. They try hard to contain their nervousness as they the crowd gaze them.

Noire wears a blue and black spaghetti strapped dress with a ruffled blue over black skirt and a black soft-net shawl hanging behind her by the elbows. The neck line is frilled and wrapped on her waist is a silk cloth tied to a ribbon on the front. She wears a pair of necklaces, the have blue flower, blue and white gems. Her hair is tied to two pigtails with two blue ribbons, the same blue as her dress and she also wears a tiara. She has thigh high stockings and wearing high heels.

Uni wears a cadet blue off the shoulder dress that extends to her black skirt, and a black waist. On the ends of the puffed shoulders and the ends of the black waist are white frills. The neck line also has frills that lines from the middle down the waist. She has a loose frilled choker with a black ribbon attached the front. Her hair is tied with a frilled ribbon into twin pigtails.

The crowd watches as the Lastation sisters walk down to the end of the aisle. They split, taking their positions on each side of the fairy, a bit ways from her, and letting out a sigh of relief after.

The music continues to play, even though the musicians are now sweaty and tired. For the main stars, for the crowd, for themselves, and for each other. The color of their music still dances with the petals that sway with the wind. The crowd looks behind them once more, anticipating the next pair.

The next pair that came out is the CPU of Lowee and the CPU of Lastation, both holding a bouquet of flowers. They march the aisle, Vert giving a confident smile, while Blanc is trying not to reveal that she's conscious of the dress.

Blanc wears a straight-across neckline red dress with a pink soft-net shawl hanging behind her by the elbows. She wears long silk gloves, a necklace and a tiara on her. The ends of the layered skirt changes per layer, the first would be a darker shade of red on the end, the second would a fade to white end, and the last would layer is the pure darker shade of red. The neck line's outlines and the waistline takes the color of that shade as well. Wrapped neatly around her skirt is a white cloth tied to ribbon and pined by a red rose. She wears thigh high stockings and wears red high heels.

Vert wears an off the shoulder green dress. The dress' outline and the ends of the puffed shoulders are frilled. She has a frilled red ribbon as a choker and a trimmed strap that connects to the side of the neckline. The skirts front is short while the back is long. Her hair ornament is a four leaf clover which is attached to a frilled handkerchief of sorts.

And as they take walk, Blanc slowly loosens up. Swayed by the music and the pink petal scene, she forms a smile, the kind that is rare to see from her. Each time Vert takes a step, her breasts jiggle a bit. The men in the crowd state can't decide which to stare at.

They reach the end of the aisle, they walk to their designated areas. Blanc stands beside Uni, while Vert stands beside Noire. The crowd looks once more into the end of the aisle, waiting for the next two to walk down.

Compa walks down the aisle next, holding also a bouquet of flowers. She wears a strapless blonde basque waist dress with the neckline frilled. From the center of the neckline down towards the base of waistline are white beads lined up. She has a beaded necklace with a small flower in the middle. She changed her headpiece to a white one with a flower ornament as well.

Compa smiles brilliantly and relaxed, excited as the main event is almost near. Reaching the end, she then walks towards Vert's side.

The music goes on still, spreading the same wonderful colors as it always had since the first note. The petals dance graciously still. The crowd once more looks behind anticipating the next girl to walk down the aisle.

Nepgear is next to walk down; the Maid of Honor. She's wearing a strapless pink dress, with a yellow ribbon in the middle. On the side of the dress is a white flower on top of a well decorated yellow ribbon. Her usual single D-pad hair accessory is now changed into the flower and yellow ribbon accessory, sporting the same design. She has white beads as on her wrist and neck.

She smiles naturally, unreserved and unforced. A smile that she can only muster for today. A smile that might just for today. Today is a special day, so for today, she'll smile as though nothing has happened. She makes her way beside Noire near the fairy. The crowd looks behind again, anticipating the next.

The next to walk side-by-side on the aisle are twins. Rom holds a pillow a pair of purple colored rings. One has small diamonds on it. Ram holds a basket of petals and flower heads. She takes a handful, careful not to crumple them and threw them around. Her beaming face shows how funs she's having.

The twins wear the same kind of dress. Rom wears an arctic blue dress with a ribbon wrapped around her waist tied to the right. A blue flower ornament on the right side of her hair. Ram wears a lemonade pink version one. The ribbon is tied to the left as well as the flower ornament on her hair on the left.

The crowd smiled as the two walks down. Some taking out their phones and taking pictures of them. At the end of the aisle, Ram stops spreading flowers with plenty to spare on the basket. They take their positions, Ram in front of Nepgear and Rom in front of IF. All of them eagerly waiting for the girl to enter.

The music ends. And silence was brought down on the area again. As though knowing what to do, the wind dies down as well. The petals in the air have stopped dancing and is glides down back to earth. At the back, the officials quickly set up the white curtains, blocking the tents in view. The crowd stands up and all eyes on the white curtains.

Slowly the piano starts up once more, an unhurried tempo resounds, slowly taking color. The wind rustles with trees and the cherry trees' petals dances in the air once more. Then the violin starts slowly as well. Slowly, their tempo rises as it reaches the chorus, and the officials on the back holds the curtains ends. Guided by song, the mood, and the anticipation, they open the curtains as Pachelbel's Canon in D truly takes color.

She takes her step, slowly but gracefully, the train of her skirt sweeping the floor behind her. A smile is plastered on her face, a smile from the heart, as she holds a bouquet of pink flowers. Her smile brings out many, many colors, a kaleidoscope of colors. The colors of joy, the colors gratitude, the colors of sorrow, the colors of pain, the colors of endless waiting, the colors of love. The makeup that her friends applied really shows that. The winds blows peacefully, and the petals dances under her feet. The whole world watches the girl walk, as the girl watches the one person she's walking towards.

"…" he smiles. A smile that means many things. A smile that also shows many emotions. But looking at her in that dress, he can't help but feel grateful. Grateful that he met her, grateful to whoever sent him here, gave him this girl. How lucky he is to have her and how many of his endless prayers have finally been answered.

Neptune wears her wedding dress. A blushed pink A-line washed silk organza with a straight through cut on the neckline. The skirt is a soft net, with a pink double –faced satin on the base of the waist, with a ribbon tied to the back. She doesn't have her usual D-pad on her hair and instead replaces it with just one fuchsia colored rose with a beads at the center and a blush-pink and lapis blue ribbons as the base that is attached to the veil which is swayed to the back. The center of her neckline and the side of the base of her waist has that same ornament.

Reaching almost the end of the long walk, she stops after a few short steps after the first row. The Groom walks and stands beside her, careful not to step on the skirt. Linking arms, they both walk towards the fairy, as the music reaches its final notes. The giant tree rustles as they near the fairy. Neptune gives the bouquet to her sister, who quickly assists. Then the pair faces each other, holding hands, smiling for each other. The song finally ends.

"Hey there beautiful"

"Hehe… Hey there handsome"

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are gathered here today to celebrate the union of Neptune, the CPU of Planeptune, Purple Heart and Jared" the fairy started her introduction.

"On behalf of the two of them, I thank you all for being here today. They are happy and blessed that all of you have come to share in this celebration called marriage" she pauses for a second to recollect herself.

"Love is the greatest thing. The moment of falling in love, is like a moment when we look into the sun and instead blinding you, it illuminates you. And you went from being blind then you can see. Love is a drug that immortalizes a person, the completeness of finding your heart's yearning. Love is fulfillment and love is to overflow. Love is the aesthetic arrest and the italicized experience. Love is consummation and consecration. And love is tragic as well"

"These two, have been together for a very long time. I have known them for a very long time as well. Countless times have they exchanged smiles, countless times have they exchanged giggles, countless times have they exchanged embraces and countless times have they struggled together. There was a time when they both cried together, there was a time when they were separated from each other, and there was a time when they both lost something dear together. Countless times have they've been put to the test"

"But Love pulls them together still as though it directs their course. The determination they both shared to be together once more has never been stronger. Because they both know the pain of too much tenderness. And know that they'll be wounded and bleed by understanding love"

"But nonetheless these two desire one another, they need one another, they feel safe with one another, they want to listen to beautiful music together, they want to dance together under the moonlight, they want to tease one another, they both want to be happy, sad and mourn together. They want all of their desires to be abolished by the plenitude of satisfaction of just being together"

"Love is the reason they are here now"

"Nepu! That speech is really over the top"

"She studied for 3 months and 3 nights just to make that"

"Ladies and Gentlemen before we begin the exchange of vows, Neptune and Jared would like to exchange special messages to each other to commemorate for this special day for them" saying that, Histoire floats a few short distance away from the mic. Jared take the mic from the stand.

"Hello, mic test" he gives the mic a test run.

"Um, truth be told. Both of us never knew that we have this in our program so we're kinda unprepared. Expect stutters" he says, resulting in some laughs from the guests.

"So… Neptune…" he returns to facing his bride.

"Before I forget, I want to say you look stunning right now and I can't help but feel that I'm falling in love with you all over again" he starts off.

"Mhm!" she smiles at him. The little bit of nervousness that they have were completely swept away. He points the mic to his mouth.

"Everyone has something deep in their hearts. Something to lean on. For some it may be aspirations, hopes and dreams. For some it may be friends, for some it may be a companion to throw your tantrums to, for some it may be the desire to show off. For some it may be the desire to return to the times when we were all together, laid back and happy. But as for me…" his hand ever so slightly tightened on hers.

"…I have you" and her hand ever so slightly tightened on his.

"Mhm…" small tears start to fall.

"Always, always. Tenderly embracing, tenderly worrying, tenderly smiling and tenderly existing, living in me. At some point in time, all I could ever do, all I really wanted to do was do anything for you"

"Mhm…"

"Even though you give me headaches"

"Gh…!"

"Even though you bite me like you want to tear my skin off"

"Gah…!"

"Even though you pull my arm as though you're going to knock it off out of its socket"

"Hg…!"

"Despite all of that, it was fun. Being with you, with everyone else. Going to stupid quests and adventures. Teasing our dishonest friends to no end. Playing games till we drop. Raising some problem children. Going to beaches just so we could catch some fish. Buying packs loads of pudding until our fridge is literally filled with puddings"

"I'm sorry that I made you cry. I'm sorry that I made you worry. I'm sorry that I left you alone on that night. I'm sorry that I made you insecure. I'm sorry that I gave you anxiety. I'm sorry for the sleepless nights. I'm sorry for the long wait. I'm sorry for that day. I'm sorry for everything, really"

Her hand grips even tighter.

"But still thank you, Neptune. For the best times, and for the worst times. Thank you for worrying. Thank you for crying for me. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for accepting me"

"And thank you, for agreeing to that deal on that day"

* * *

_'__I thought you had a crush on me so-'_

_"*Sigh* Fine, we'll go on a date after I save you"_

_'Yay! I'd get to go on a date!' she cheered._

_'By the way, I never got your name' now that she mentioned it._

_"It's Jared"_

_'Well then Jared, better go and save me, so we can talk more about on our date!'_

_"Fine, fine"_

* * *

They're story started on that simple deal. They're journey started on that simple deal. Isn't that something romantic?

"Thank you for blessing this sinner's soul"

"Mhm!" small beads of tears pours out of the corner of her eyes as she smiles her signature picturesque smile. How many times was he blessed with that smile?

"...C'mon, you'll ruin your make up. You can cry lots later" he whispered and she wipes the small tears from her eyes.

"Mhm… Okay, I guess it's my turn to say something cool…" she takes the microphone off his hands.

"Um… Ahaha… I really can't stop crying after hearing all that…" she smiles as he wipes the oncoming tears from her eyes.

"Mm… Thanks. I'm not really good with these sappy stuff so I'll make it quick!" her usual way surfaces.

"Thank you" she simply says.

"I always, always wanted to say 'thank you' to you, since I confessed. I remembered that you went looking for me, I remembered that you showed me a really neat scene that I'm never, ever going to forget. I remembered that you responded to my feelings when I confessed to you. I remembered that you took my first kiss from me. Everything that you gave me that night I want to say Thank you!"

"Thank you for always being supportive of me. Thank you for always staying by my side. Thank you for always making everything fun. Thank you for making a 10-star meal. Thank you for going on an adventure with me. Thank you for being giving me tender loving care. Thank you for always petting me. Thank you for always holding my hand. Thank you for being considerate. Thank you for being understanding. Thank you for saving our little problem child. Thank you for raising those tykes with me. Thank you for taking care of my friends. Thank you for being loyal. Thank you for saving me. Thank you for coming back to me. Thank you for hugging me. Thank you for kissing me. Thank you for telling me that you love me"

"...That's a lot of thank yous…"

"And I'm sorry that there were times that I was really difficult. I'm sorry for letting you eat salty foods. I'm sorry for always biting you. I'm sorry for pulling you so hard. I'm sorry for giving you headaches. I'm sorry that I sometimes put you in a pinch. I'm sorry that I always make you work hard for me. I'm sorry that I always get you hurt. And I'm sorry for being a spoiled little princess"

"...Yeah…"

"Thank you for everything Jared. I'm happy now because you always did everything for me" temporarily letting go of his hand, she put hers in her chest…

"Thank you for existing in my heart. And I'll always, always love you no matter who you are" she gives her heartfelt thanks and smile to her Groom. The Groom returns it with the same gentleness. The guests claps at their lovely exchange. Neptune puts the mic back in the stand and holds her Groom's hands.

"With their messages exchanged. May I request for the ring bearer to stand before their joined hands"

Hearing that, Rom walks and faces them both. She raises the pillow slightly above her head. The crowd once more takes into silence. The pink cherry petals dances still. And the wind still blows peacefully. A peaceful, joyful, romantic silence echoes around the park.

"Jared, please hold Neptune's ring" the Groom picks up the diamond beaded ring.

"Jared, do you take Neptune, to be your wife to hold, your partner in life and your one true love, from this day onward, for better or for worse, for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do you two part?" Histoire asked as point the mic towards him.

* * *

"_There has been many stories about gods loving humans_"

"_There have been many…_"

"_But few tells the story of devils and gods falling in love_"

"_Quite a few…"_

_"I can't make her happy"_

_"I know"_

_"...And yet she still chooses to stay"_

_"She finds to be the happiest around you"_

_"…The world is cruel"_

_"And yet she remains"_

* * *

"…Not yet" he answered.

Everyone suddenly was brought to attention by that answer. It was supposed to be a simple 'I do'. Everyone expected that answer coming from the person who gave her his thanks. The crowd murmurs audibly. Is this a failed marriage? Would such a lovely wedding be brought down to tears? What was he serious on that answer? Did he stutter? All kinds of speculations flies around as the guest's looks at the expression the bride is wearing.

A shocked wide eyed look is shown. Her expression from 2 seconds ago was completely different from before. Her mind is in a blank. She holds her breath as she process what her groom said. No, she could not simply believe what he just said. She can't read his eyes. What is he thinking right now? What does his heart saying right now? Wasn't he the one that proposed to her? Why is he backing off now?

"…!"

"Th-Thats…!"

"N-No… way…!"

"…!"

"…!"

"ε＝（ﾉﾟдﾟ）ﾉ"

"J...Jared…?"

"…Look" he stares at the aisle a satisfied smile on his face.

Her eyes followed, and what she saw, almost made her heart stop.

On her wheelchair, she was there, happy for both of them and greeting with a smile on her face. Her magenta eyes are warm and healthy. Her light purple hair isn't braided and is tied by a pink ribbon. She wears a caramel colored cardigan over a teal colored short and has a lavender cloth on her lap. With both hands, she holds two plush dolls a male in a suit and a female one with lilac hair in a white dress. Their hands were sewed together.

"Pl… Plu…!" slowly her tears falls down.

"B… but …how…!"

"Neppy! Jarey! I made a doll for you both!"

"…Plutia! 。ﾟ(ﾟﾉД｀ﾟ)ﾟ｡"

"Plu-Plu!"

"Lady Plutia!"

"Plutia!"

"Plutia!"

"…*sniff!* Plutia!"

"Ploot!"

Seven girls runs towards her, one of which is a small fairy that is floating on an open book. Their eyes determined to know if what they see is the real thing. Determined to know if it was all true. Determined to know if she really was still alive.

The fairy has medium-length blonde hair in two pigtails tied up with teal ribbons with a purple and white headdress on her head. She wears what seems to be a purple gown along with designs that have orange coloring with a teal bow at the top. Her leg-wear consists of white stockings and purple shoes with pink circles on the center.

A fair-skinned girl with a short physique runs up to her next. Her hair has a pale brown hue and has a length that reaches down near her waist. She has sharp, green eyes. On her head is an accessory which is a green handkerchief that is tied to look like two leaves sticking out. She wears a loose, large, blue coat with silver buttons and trimming that is worn open and its many sizes too large for her to wear. It has two pockets on each side of the waist. The lower end of her coat has a brown fur lining. A loose belt strap that holds nine cell phone holders are attached in the waist line of her coat. In order from the left side of the coat to the right are the colors of the cell phone holders: blue, light blue, green, black, magenta, white, lime green, orange, and light pink. Beneath the open coat, she wears a tank top and a pair of shorts that are black with silver trimming. She wears a black belt with silver trimming and is adorned with a black and silver, diamond-shaped buckle. She wears medium-length black socks and blue boots with silver trimming that matches her coat. Being too loose for her, the sleeves reaches through her hands. From the shoulder to the elbow level of the sleeves is an orange lightning bolt with white trimming. On each side of the bottom of the sleeves are buttoned-on black cuffs with silver trimming.

The other girl has a long light congo-pink hair with matching congo-pink eyes. She wears a tan-white wool sweater top with and matching arm warmers and boots, but with fuzzy balls at the top. She also wears a red plaid skirt, a black choker with a small heart on it, black-brown knee-socks with light pink heart cut frills, and often carries a black hip purse, and heart shaped buttons. Like her headband, both her purse and the heart on the choker has a noticeable C logo.

Another wears a dark gray tank top that exposes her stomach with a blue ribbon in the center and a matching skirt with blue highlights on the pleats. On her arms she wears detached sleeves that are open at the upper arm but attached by a black strap and buckle. Her leg wear consists of over the knee blue socks and dark grey boots that match her tank top.

The other has clothes that are inspired by the Japanese shrine maiden attire and consist of a red dress with fold-skirt and a leafy pattern along the bottom. The dress has a black tank top piece with an accessory with red lining and a blue sphere in the center with thin strings. At the top of the dress is a golden flower piece with black strap connecting around her waist. Over this is a white jacket with a big tassel hanging on the ends of both sleeves with flowers. On her right arm is a bracelet, made with oversized black and white beads. Her white cap has gained red and pink petal pattern and a black circled segment in the center. She also has on thigh high stockings with red lining and black sandals with red ribbons at the toe and flower symbols.

The next is a woman who wears an off-the-shoulder dress. It is a dark sea foam-teal color with puffed somewhat sleeves and black spiked cuffs at the end. Her breast shows and have very thin light green straps connecting to her choker-piece around her neck, resembling the belt she wears. The dress covers her lower half and goes between her legs, while the back part is much longer with spiked lining. Around her waist she has a black belt like piece with green circled pads on each hip, connecting to a very light blue ribbon/sash. Her hair also gains a matching colored hair bow, while on her neck she has something matching the belt. Her shoes are black slip-ons with same pads at the toe and ballerina-like wrappings around the leg.

And lastly is a short girl with strawberry blonde hair with large red hair bobbles and cerulean blue eyes. Her clothes consist of a one piece short jumpsuit with a bee-like design accompanied with star designs on the lower half and also on the sleeves. She wears large red shoes and boxing gloves in the shape of cat paws.

All of them, hugs her simultaneously, the notion nearly pushed her out of her wheel chair. Without saying anything, they've already confirmed that she's alive and well.

Tears falling from their eyes they wail with much relief. They cry their emotions out, the yearlong emotions that they've kept inside, that turned into hate, and then turned into relief, is shown in their tears.

"Pl…"

"Go…" his Groom urged her.

"And you too…" he also urge the maid of honor.

And as though the restrains in them were cut loose, as though the dam have been opened, the Bride and the Maid of Honor runs and jumps towards their lavender haired friend, their arms instantly wrapping around her neck. The girl was surprised for a moment, but just a moment after she returns the embrace tears are falling down from her eyes as well.

"PLUTIE!"

"Plutia!"

"*Sniff!*…Mhm! Neppy! Neppy Jr!"

"Hey, Compa. You're patient is getting treated like this even though she's in a wheel chair. What you say"

"…Hey! It's not to jump at her like that" Compa tells them too late after she wiped a bit of her tears.

"Plutie!"

"Plu-Plu, Plu-Plu!"

"Plutia! *Hic!* *Sniff!* Y… You're alive! ｡･ﾟ'(*/益＼*) 'ﾟ･｡"

"Plooot! I miss you Ploot! I miss you!"

"Mhm! I miss you too!"

"…*hic!* *sniff!* Uwaaaaaaa!"

"*Sniff!* D… don't just… go die and appear again, you idiot!"

"*Sniff!* **hic!*…B… but how…?" Pseudo-IF asked.

"*hic*…Mhm, we… we saw… you being killed…" Pseudo-Vert said what she remembers.

She couldn't forget every single detail that day. The blood. The cry. The last breath. The scream. The anger. All of it were embedded in her and haunts her up until this day.

"Mhm. But Jarey helped me…"

* * *

_"Uh…" _

_Her eyes slowly opens. The scene that she sees is blurry, too blurry. In that blur, the color of white greets her she can't make out any other color than that. Her eyes wonder around, as she waits for her eyes to focus, finding more color to recognize._

_"…Plutie" a distant voice calls. But whose name did it call out to?_

_"…Hey, Plutie…" the voice seems to gently stroke her heart. A warm feeling envelops her, wraps around her, embracing her. And guided by that warm gentleness, her eyes naturally follow to it._

"_…_"

_A new set of color meets her eyes, it's shaped as a person. Since her eyes are still blurry, she can't see the person's features very well. But even so, even with that temporary disability. She can't mistake the slight roughness her right hand feels. Both of the person's hands gently holding hers._

_She slowly searches through her memories, slowly peeling away the blurry darkness in her. Each peel shows her a memory, a memory of fun times, a memory of sad times, a memory of tears and a memory of anger, like slowly unwrapping a mystery box. _

_And through enough effort, she found a name. A name she always cherished. A name that had moved her. A name that made her cry. A name that will always make her smile. A name that is kept special in her heart. A name of her first failed love._

_"Jared…" her mouth moves on their own as she utters his name. The scene before her is still blurry, but knowing him, and just like always…_

_"Yeah… Welcome back…" …he would put his hand on her head…_

_"I'm back…" …and pet her until she's satisfied._

* * *

"Jared, you really should have said anything to them" IF said.

"…I wanted to" but he his own reasons why the passerby hasn't said anything.

"…And your arm..." Pseudo-Blanc notices Plutia's right arm that is attached to her.

"Mhm! I can be able to move it now after I had some repub!"

"Rehab" he corrected her.

"…B-But you… We saw you…!"

"Umm… I really don't know what happened… But Nurse-Compa said that Jarey, did purgery on me"

"Surgery. And what in the hell is purgery?" the Groom couldn't help but give a slight ironic snicker.

"Who cares about that now!? Plutie's safe and sound now! *hic!*" Neptune hugs her.

"Mhm! *sniff!* We… thought! That you're gone for good!" Nepgear hugs her back.

"Th… then… Ploot… won't sleep very long now!?"

"Mhm, mhm! She's going to wake up in the next morning and we're all going to play!"

"G...Geez…D-Don't ever do that again!" Pseudo-Iffy wipes her tears from her eyes but it's still flooding some more.

"Ehehe… I'm sorry…" the girl gives everyone a smile.

"…Hey, Neppy…" noticing the Bride still hugging her, she calls out to her. The girl peels away from her, still with tears in the corner of her eyes but none of it ruined her make up.

"…Go. He's waiting…"

"Ah…"

Neptune looks back, and what she saw is a hand stretched out to her. A hand that is a little bit rough but warm. A hand that always holds her hand. A hand that would never let go of her no matter what. A hand that had battled a thousand battles. A hand she will take and will never let go of it. A hand of the most amazing person she could have ever met, the person that she loves.

"…Everyone's here, right?"

"Ah…" so that was he was aiming for. He still remembers, his deal with her.

* * *

_"...And speaking of promises… we're down to the last one huh?"_

_"Mhm…" the girl nods._

_"Want to do it now?" I ask as both of us play with each other's ring._

_"Mm hm…" she lightly shakes her head._

_"…I want everyone to be there…"_

_"Everyone?"_

_"Nepgear, Plutie, Histy, Histy, Noire, Vert, Blanc, Uni, Rom, Ram, Iffy, Compa, Peashy… and…"_

_"So basically, you mean everyone, right?"_

_"Yeah, everyone!"_

* * *

"Yeah! Everyone's here now!" her smile; that contains nothing more but just excitement, happiness and joy, so picturesque too, shows. How lovely it is to see her smile like that always.

"Let's do this properly this time"

The two takes their places before the officiant. They hold hands, look at each other with warm eyes, and smile happily. The rest smiles as well, knowing that this love story's chapter will end in a good note. The petals from the cheery trees continue to dance as though blessing the two, the wind moves as though stroking its children. The guest stands up, waiting for those sweet, words to be said.

With the ring already in his hand, he readies her ring finger.

"Jared, do you take Neptune, to be your wife to hold, your partner in life and your one true love, from this day onward, for better or for worse, for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do you two part?" Histoire starts again once more.

"I do" he puts the ring on her finger. She smiles while he does the process.

Neptune takes the plain lilac colored ring from the Ring Bearer, and readies the ring before his ring finger.

"Neptune, do you take Jared, to be your husband to hold, your partner in life and your one true love, from this day onward, for better or for worse, for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do you two part?"

"Mhm! Yes! A thousand times yes!" she says with glee as she puts the ring on his finger.

"And then by the power vested in me as Planeptune's Oracle! I will I now pronounce you Husband and Wife!"

*CLAP!* *CLAP!* *CLAP!* *CLAP!* *CLAP!* *CLAP!* *CLAP!* *CLAP!* *CLAP!*

The guest's cheers, claps their hands and roars with delight. The wind picks up almost as though it's clapping as well. The petals moves along in the same pace cheering happily as well. Some music is heard in the background. The sound of someone sniffing can be heard. But still the people cheered, their echoes shaking the very heavens.

"Now you may kiss th… Never mind…" Histoire smiled happily at the two. Like a satisfied mother.

"Mm…"

"Mm!"

Love is unique. Love is radiance. Love is a dance with the divinity. Love is the greatest pain of them all. The intertwining of loss and melancholy is what makes love so unique and mesmerizing and what makes it tragic. But as Roland Gérard Barthes said, love is the romantic solution to the problem of death. Where our lovers act as stand-ins in a stage managed resurrection where the pilgrim without faith can die and live again. Love turns your lovers into gods and goddesses, to be eventually saved by them. It is in every song, romantic movie and novels and those feelings that moves you to tears. And as Albert Camus said, Life should be lived to the point of tears.

So fall in love, or die trying.

Chapter 1: A Non-Fiction dream come true

* * *

_A/N: Finally! You know it's the last chapter when it's extra long! Ahaha! Anyway's like always I had a blast writing this. I'm sorry that it wasn't like the usual every day update. But still, I'd like to thank that people who reviewed this, who favorite it and followed. Especially too:_

_godofmadness43 you reviewed every chapter again!_

_Twilightiger1602 I just love your long reviews man!_

_And to the rest who said that this fic is cool! Who pm'd me that this fic is cool!_

_Love Stories is yet to be debuted, so that means I'm still accepting OC's!_

_Again, that Chapter 1 thing is meaning something here, lol._

_And without ado. Thank you once again! Good reading and godspeed!_

_PS: I'll be taking a rest until April so expect April to have a new release!_

_PSPS:There's a poll at my profile. Please take a look._


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